India to host Agrivoltaics World Conference 2026, first in Global South

India will host the Agrivoltaics World Conference 2026, the first time the global gathering is being held in the Global South. The announcement, reported by DD India on 21 October 2026, ties the event to the next phase of the PM-KUSUM scheme, which the government says will give agrivoltaics a bigger push.

Agrivoltaics means putting solar panels on the same land used to grow crops. Panels sit above the plants, or between rows, so a farmer earns from power and produce at once. The shade can cut water loss from the soil. On some crops, it helps.

Why the venue matters

Most agrivoltaics research and large projects have been built in Europe, East Asia and North America. Holding the conference in India puts a country with roughly 140 million farm holdings at the centre of the conversation. Small plots, fragmented land and monsoon cycles make the Indian case different from a solar farm in Germany or Japan.

PM-KUSUM already supports solar pumps and small solar plants on farmland. The next phase is expected to widen that to agrivoltaic systems, though the government has not yet published the full design or the money attached to it.

What's still open

Details are thin. DD India's report did not give the conference dates, the host city, or the list of delegates. It also did not spell out how much the next PM-KUSUM phase will spend on agrivoltaics, or what subsidy a farmer would get.

Those numbers matter. Agrivoltaic setups cost more to build than plain solar because the mounting has to be taller and sturdier, and the farmer has to keep working the land underneath. Without a clear subsidy or a guaranteed buyer for the power, the economics stay tight for smallholders.

• Conference: Agrivoltaics World Conference 2026, hosted in India
• First time in the Global South
• Linked policy: next phase of PM-KUSUM
• Reported by DD India on 21 October 2026

The land question

India's solar buildout has run into land conflicts in several states. Large ground-mounted parks need flat, open acres, and that land often has grazing or farming uses. Agrivoltaics offers a way around the fight: the same field does two jobs.

It isn't a cure-all. Panel heights, crop choice and maintenance access all need care. Wheat and rice, the country's biggest crops, are not the easiest fit. Vegetables, fodder and some pulses have done better in trials.

The conference will likely draw researchers, developers and policy people from several countries. For India, the pitch is simple. It has the farmland, the sunlight and a scheme already in place. What it needs now is the cost curve to fall and the rules to be clear.

The next PM-KUSUM phase, and the fine print on agrivoltaics within it, will be the thing to watch. DD India's report confirms the direction. The numbers are still to come.