The 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi has given solar cooperation a broader industrial and financial dimension, with the bloc backing a Photovoltaic Industry Working Group and a proposed BRICS Solar Photovoltaic Cooperation Roadmap. The framework is intended to identify areas for technology cooperation, financing and capacity building, while members are encouraged to create national knowledge portals for sharing solar policies and best practices.
For India, the significance extends beyond large solar parks and manufacturing. The country has been using decentralized solar to address the energy requirements of agriculture, particularly irrigation. Under PM-KUSUM, the latest national dashboard shows 11,90,639 standalone solar pumps installed as of September 30, 2026, while 16,528 individual grid-connected pumps and 17,17,983 feeder-level systems have been solarized. Component A of the scheme has also reached 2,425.99 MW of installed decentralized renewable capacity.
The next stage could be more technically diverse. The government has confirmed that PM-KUSUM 2.0 is being prepared with a dedicated 10 GW Agri-PV component. The model is designed to allow electricity generation and agricultural cultivation on the same land, creating an additional energy asset without necessarily removing the land from agricultural use. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has also highlighted solar pumps as a means of reducing irrigation costs and dependence on diesel.
One important distinction is that the BRICS photovoltaic roadmap does not itself create a solar irrigation subsidy or finance PM-KUSUM projects. Its potential value for Indian agriculture is indirect but significant. Shared technology development, manufacturing knowledge, financing mechanisms, technical standards and capacity-building programmes could help lower barriers to deploying solar pumps, agricultural PV systems and decentralized power infrastructure across emerging economies.
This cooperation also intersects with the less visible infrastructure behind solar irrigation. Pumps require reliable motors, controllers, photovoltaic modules, power electronics, installation networks, testing facilities and long-term maintenance. India is expanding its domestic photovoltaic manufacturing base, with MNRE’s August 2026 ALMM List-II update taking approved solar cell manufacturing capacity to 35.47 GW. A stronger BRICS manufacturing and knowledge network could provide another channel for improving technology access and supply-chain resilience.
The energy-water connection is particularly important because solarization changes the economics and operating pattern of irrigation, but it does not automatically solve groundwater depletion or inefficient water use. Research on the BRICS agricultural water-energy-land-food nexus identifies irrigation as a major energy consumer and points to combinations such as low-carbon electricity, efficient irrigation and precision agriculture as a pathway toward lower energy-related emissions. For India, the long-term opportunity therefore lies in linking solar pumps with water-efficient farming rather than treating solarization as an isolated equipment programme.
BRICS cooperation is also expanding into smart grids and storage. The New Delhi Declaration welcomed guiding principles on smart grids and energy storage and noted India’s initiative for a BRICS Digital Centre of Excellence in this field. These areas could become increasingly relevant to agricultural feeders as solar generation grows and electricity demand does not always coincide with daytime photovoltaic output.
For India, the distinctive opportunity is therefore to move from solar-powered irrigation to an integrated farm energy model in which solar generation, efficient pumping, agricultural production, storage, grid interaction and potentially surplus electricity sales operate together. BRICS cooperation can provide a platform for sharing the technologies, financing approaches and implementation experience needed to scale that model. The outcome, however, will depend on whether the proposed roadmap develops into practical programmes with identifiable funding, technical partnerships and measurable deployment results.