IoT PV SCADA Powering PM-KUSUM Projects

We at EnerMAN are proud to be a major technology partner of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) PM-KUSUM program, which was introduced by the Government of India. In order to promote sustainable renewable energy use, reduce the reliance on fossil fuel energy, improve the stability of grid power through distributed generation, and give farmers more economic power, this forward-thinking program aims to integrate solar photovoltaic (PV) systems into agricultural power infrastructure throughout rural India.

Three main areas are the focus of the plan:

First, in order to produce clean electricity that can be fed into the grid, makes it easier to install decentralised, grid-connected solar PV plants with capacities of up to 2 MW on agricultural or baren land. In addition to encouraging the production of clean energy, this gives farmers another way to make money from their land.

Second, the program encourages the installation of independent solar-powered agricultural pumps (component – C), which increase farm productivity and lower operating costs by enabling irrigation in off-grid areas and enabling farmers to use less diesel and steer clear of unstable electricity supplies.

Third, PM-KUSUM promotes the solarisation of current grid-connected pump sets, which allows farmers to use solar energy for irrigation and export excess power to the grid via net metering, thus increasing energy efficiency and income potential.

For farmers and other stakeholders, the financial framework supporting PM-KUSUM makes the adoption of solar energy feasible and affordable. It comprises a 60 percent capital subsidy that is split between the federal and state governments, a 10 percent beneficiary contribution, and an optional institutional loan that can cover up to 30 percent of the project’s cost. This funding model increases rural energy access while reducing upfront costs and guaranteeing long-term operational savings.

 We at EnerMAN, support the goals of the program by offering cutting-edge data management and monitoring solutions that are crucial for maximising the performance of solar assets. Rapid fault detection and operational optimisation are made possible by our ETi-EDGE Local Monitoring System, which provides on-site, real-time tracking of solar PV plant performance.

In addition, our ETi-SOL cloud-based IoT SCADA platform facilitates data-driven decision-making by offering safe, scalable remote access to performance analytics, live and historical data. ETi-SOL has the features of – Centralized Monitoring System (CMS) / Remote Monitoring System (RMS) which allows the plant owner to view multiple plants data in single platform efficiently.

EnerMAN facilitates the exchange of energy data with the State Solar Energy Data Management (SEDM) Platform. which also makes regulatory compliance easier and allows for smooth integration with DISCOMs and government portals. MQTT protocols are used to securely transfer the data in compliance with government regulations.

Presently, EnerMAN’s integrated technology suite supports more than 100MW of PM-KUSUM solar projects, enabling developers, DISCOMs, and farmers to optimise operational efficiency, guarantee asset reliability, and enhance return on investment. We are dedicated to speeding up India’s shift to decentralised renewable energy and sustainable agricultural development with our technology-driven approach.

MNRE pushing for adopting advance technology like IoT based SCADA for live data collection from Solar PV plants and Sub-station grid metering point using mobile internet / Cellular network (3G/4G/5G) and MQTT / API / FTP through secured interfaces to safeguard against Cyber security threat / attacks. This helps in effective management and maximum utilization of renewable energy generated from distributed system across India by State Level and National Level SEDM CMS platforms. This will also ensure no misuse of capital subsidy and future automation of JMR and bill settlement reduce unnecessary manual and time-consuming effort.

By Sabarish, Rekha and Ravi of EnerMAN Technologies