Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday announced a potential 3 per cent annual reduction in electricity tariffs for general consumers, attributing the move to Maharashtra’s dramatic rise in solar power generation. Speaking at a ceremony in Shendra MIDC, Auric City, where the State was formally inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records, the Chief Minister said: “By bringing farmers’ feeders onto solar power, we will generate an independent 16,000 Megawatts of solar electricity.

 

This pollution-free and low-cost generation will allow us to reduce electricity rates for other sectors annually by 3 per cent.” Fadnavis highlighted that Maharashtra has emerged as the leading state in India in adopting solar energy for agriculture, with 7 lakh solar pumps already installed. The scheme, he noted, became the model for the Centre’s ‘KUSUM’ programme. Maharashtra has now set a Guinness World Record for installing the highest number of solar agricultural pumps in a single month. The State power utility Mahavitaran installed 45,911 solar agricultural pumps in one month under the ‘Magel Tyala Solar Krushi Pump’ (Solar Agricultural Pump on Demand) scheme, surpassing the benchmark required for the world record.