It is barely past dawn when Nikhil Patel reaches his field. For years, watering his crops came with a familiar worry. Would there be electricity when he needed it? Would he have to depend on the diesel pump again?
This morning looks different.
Rows of solar panels stand along the edge of his land. The solar-powered pump begins drawing water towards his crops. There is another change too: his farm can now earn from the sun shining over it.
And Nikhil is not alone.
Across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, thousands of farmers are turning to solar power in similar ways.
Behind this effort is Bhavesh Patidar, who grew up in a farming family in Khalghat, Madhya Pradesh, and closely saw how difficult it could be for a farmer to earn a stable income.
He later studied at IIT and built a career in technology before founding Solarsure.
Since its launch in November 2024, the company says it has commissioned over 300 MW of solar capacity and reached more than 50,000 farmers through its projects.
‘I didn’t research the problem, I lived it’
Growing up in a farming family, Bhavesh witnessed the uncertainty that defined agricultural life. His father worked tirelessly on the farm for decades, yet financial security always seemed out of reach. But there was one thing he heard his father say again and again over the years.
“Pura jeevan kheti mein laga diya, par kabhi achhi kamai nahi hui.”(I spent my entire life farming, but never earned a truly good income.)
The words lingered long after Bhavesh left home.
Solar panels installed along the edge of Nikhil Patel’s farm now help power irrigation while creating another source of income for his family.
They stayed with him as he went on to study at IIT-BHU and build a career in technology. He founded the agritech startup Neurafarms, which was later acquired, and spent years working with data-driven systems and climate-tech. But even as his work took him in a different direction, the problem he had grown up seeing at home remained familiar.
“The problem was never something I discovered through research,” Bhavesh says. “I had lived it and seen it every day growing up.”
Years later, the government’s PM-KUSUM scheme gave him a chance to do something about it. The scheme allows farmers to use solar in different ways, from powering irrigation pumps to setting up larger grid-connected plants and selling the electricity they generate. Bhavesh was interested in the latter: could the land itself become another source of income?
He decided to test the idea on his own family’s land. Under the scheme, he set up a 2 MW solar plant and began selling electricity back to the grid. Unlike farm income, which could rise and fall with the weather and market prices, the income from solar was more predictable.
Neighbouring farmers began noticing the plant and asking how it worked, and whether they could do something similar on their own land.
That experiment eventually became ‘Solarsure’.
Bhavesh launched the Indore-based renewable energy Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) company in November 2024. Today, it works across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, helping farmers set up solar projects on underused or less-fertile land.
Through solar projects, farmers can use underused or less-fertile land to generate electricity and supply it to the grid.
Solarsure says over 50,000 farmers have participated in its projects, with company estimates suggesting income increases of more than 30 percent. So far, the company has commissioned over 300 MW of solar capacity and built a project pipeline exceeding 1.5 GW.
What if farmers could sell power too?
For many farmers, the definition of solar energy starts and ends with irrigation pumps, but Bhavesh believes the opportunity is much bigger. “Farmers should not only consume energy,” he says. “They should be able to produce and sell it as well.”
Through Solarsure, farmers receive support at every stage of the process — from project design and financing assistance to installation, maintenance, and grid integration.
The company develops both ground-mounted and rooftop solar systems while helping farmers access government schemes and financing options.
Before a project is commissioned, Solarsure also uses AI and satellite data from agencies such as ISRO and NASA to study climate risks, wind conditions and long-term site suitability. The idea is to understand how well a site is likely to perform and optimise energy generation over time.
Solarsure uses AI and satellite data to assess factors such as climate risks, wind conditions and site suitability before setting up solar projects.
The company also provides the digital infrastructure needed for effective grid integration, ensuring that electricity generated by solar plants can be supplied reliably to the grid. For Bhavesh, all of this technology matters because of what it can change for a farmer’s income.
“In farming, too much depends on factors outside a farmer’s control,” he says. “Solar creates a second stream of income that is predictable and long-term.”
‘Now, I have a fixed monthly income’
Back in Nikhil’s field, you can see the transformation beautifully play out.
A farmer by occupation, Nikhil first came across information about solar projects under the PM-KUSUM scheme through social media. Curious, he began researching the concept and eventually connected with Solarsure.
At the time, financial pressures were mounting. “There was a money crisis,” he recalls. “I wanted to understand whether this could really work.”
After learning more about the process, he decided to move forward.
Looking back, he calls it one of the best decisions of his life. “Earlier, I faced many problems financially,” he says. “Now I receive a fixed income every month. My EMIs are managed, and I can plan for the future.”
The additional income has also given him confidence to explore other opportunities. “Today I can make decisions easily. Whether it is for my family or a small side business, I have the confidence to move ahead.”
For Nikhil, the solar project has brought a fixed monthly income, helping him manage EMIs and plan ahead for his family.
For Nikhil, being able to plan ahead is perhaps the biggest change. And after seeing what solar has done for his own finances, he wants other farmers to at least understand the option available to them.
“The weather is uncertain, and farming incomes are not fixed. If farmers want better earnings and a better life, they should understand solar power and explore the PM-KUSUM scheme.”
While Nikhil points to a fixed monthly earning, another farmer, Mitesh, has experienced the financial benefit in a different way: through lower household electricity costs.
Living in a 20-member joint family, he once paid electricity bills of around Rs 12,000 every month.
After installing a 5-kW solar system, that figure dropped dramatically. “Today my electricity bill is only around Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200. I save nearly Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 every month.”
From paying EMIs to planning ahead
For a farmer, an extra source of income can change very ordinary decisions. An EMI gets paid on time. An electricity bill no longer eats into the month’s earnings. There is a little more room to think about the next crop, a child’s education, or an expense at home without wondering where the money will come from.
That is what makes solar interesting to Bhavesh. Farming will still depend on rain, crop prices and a hundred things a farmer cannot control. But the sunlight falling on the same piece of land can give the family something else to rely on.
Sometimes that means cheaper electricity. Sometimes it means water for the field. And sometimes, as Nikhil found, it means knowing that some money will come in even when the farming season does not go as planned.
From lower electricity bills to additional income, solar power is helping farming families find another way to make their land and resources work for them.
This takes Bhavesh back to something he heard from his father for years: that a lifetime of farming had still not brought the financial security he had hoped for.
Today, Bhavesh hopes he can help other farming families write a different story, one where the land beneath their feet and the sun above their heads can both help them build a more secure future.
“If farmers can earn with dignity and build financial security for their families, then we’ve achieved something meaningful,” he smiles.
All images courtesy Solarsure team
