BENGALURU, India (AP) — For six years, Pravinbhai Parmar’s farm in Gujarat state in western India has been lined with rice, wheat and solar panels.

The 36-year-old is among a handful of farmers in his native Dhundi village who have been using solar power to irrigate crops.

“I was spending nearly 50,000 rupees ($615) every year to water my crops,” said Parmar. “With solar I spend nothing.”

Parmar also sells the excess electricity to his state’s grid, earning an average of 4,000 rupees ($50) a month.

“It’s a win-win in every way,” he said.

Thousands of farmers have been encouraged to take up solar power for irrigation in the agriculture-rich state as India aims to reach ‘net zero’ by 2070. But livelihoods powered by clean energy are major outliers in the country that’s the third-largest emitter of planet-warming gases in the world, and last year announced its biggest-ever auction for coal mines.

Coal’s share in producing electricity for Gujarat fell from 85% to 56% in the last six years, according to analysis by London-based energy think tank Ember. The share of renewable energy for the state grew from 9% to 28% in the same period.

But Gujarat is just one of four of India’s 28 states that met their renewable energy targets for 2022. Most states have installed less than 50% of their targets and some states such as West Bengal have installed only 10% of their target.

Nationwide fossil fuels generate more than 70% of India’s electricity and have been doing so for decades.