How Solar Pumping Technology Can Save India’s Farmers Water Pumps powered by the sun could Solve a host of problems for rural farmers and the nation’s power grid. In India there are nearly 25 million agricultural water pumps, more than anywhere on earth. Whether they draw their power from the country’s rickety power grid or from diesel-fueled generators, the pumps cause a host of problems. They are sucking aquifers dry, draining the government treasury and farmer’s pockets, and adding to the country’s burgeoning carbon emissions levels. A growing number of government officials, aid workers and entrepreneurs believe that if any sector is ripe for solar power in India, it is the legions of agricultural irrigation pumps, because the benefits could add up so quickly. “In our view, Government should focus on giving farmers a solution for their needs,” “The farmers will be happy, and once the farmers are happy, The cultivation will get increased and even there will be a huge growth in agriculture sector… Even we will get crops in low price due to increase in growth rate ! To know how a solar pump set, as it’s called, can make such a difference, it’s worth taking a moment to understand the strange burden that watering crops places on the Indian economy. About 18 million of the country’s 25 million pump-sets are tied to the national electric grid. India’s planning commission estimates that farming accounts for about 15 percent of gross domestic product but the sector consumes some 25 percent of the nation’s electricity, mostly from powering irrigation pumps. Utilities provide this power at a huge loss; electricity for farmers is usually free, or nearly so, costing only a couple of pennies per kilowatt. It’s been this way for decades, the legacy of a country that is quickly urbanizing but whose self-image -- and nearly 70 percent of its population -- is still rooted in the countryside. The policy comes at a high cost, both in energy and money. The power lines experience transmission losses of 30 to 40 percent on their long route to customers who pay almost nothing. "Every watt sold to a rural customer is a loss to the bottom line," explained Srinivasan Padmanaban, a senior energy advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in New Delhi. This burden is taking its toll on the rest of India. Most state electricity boards, the rough equivalent of U.S. utilities, are operating in the red, and the nation’s power system frequently falters under the demand pressures of the fast-growing country. In July 2012, more than half of India’s population, 670 million people, experienced the world’s largest blackout ever. Smaller, rolling blackouts are common, even in some of India’s largest cities, spurred on by an outdated power grid, electricity theft, chronic shortages of fuel and the rising cost of imported coal and petroleum. Easing energy demand is a top priority. And if the flickering power grid is a headache for utility officers and city dwellers, it is an obstacle of another kind for the farmer, sometimes a deadly one. Farmers get electricity, but often for only a few hours a day—or, rather, the night, when no other customers need it. This means that many farmers stumble out of bed and irrigate their fields in the dark. India is home to many venomous snakes like cobras and vipers, and it is fairly common, for a farmer to meet his end with a snakebite. These exhausted farmers who depend on short bursts of free electricity are not the best stewards of the nation’s diminishing supply of groundwater. The system incentivizes the farmer to use as much water as he can when he can get it. Thus, many farmers gravitate toward crops that require flooding, like rice and wheat. But these commodities offer farmers the lowest of profit margins. Global consulting firm KPMG estimates that solar pumps, which give a farmer the leisure to pump water only when he needs it—and can see it—could increase agricultural income by 10 to 15 percent by letting farmers switch to more profitable crops such as tomatoes and potatoes. Converting all of India’s electric water pumps to solar would appear to make imminent sense, but the economic argument for solar is even more compelling for diesel-powered pumps. Solar-powered water pumps, which include a power source and expensive electronics, currently cost upwards of $6,000, whereas a pump that runs on electricity or diesel can be had for as little as $500. That’s an enormous difference in a country with a per capita yearly income of only $1,200. Farmers who get their electricity for free would probably rather save their money and risk the cobras. But for the 7 million diesel-using farmers, most of whom have no electrical connection and have had no choice but diesel pumps, they can spend up to 35 or 40 percent of their income on diesel. And that amount is rising because the country is phasing out its subsidy on the fuel. “The costs of running a diesel pump are very high,” "We are having a huge market for solar pumps in India," KPMG estimates that if the government purchased 100,000 solar pumps, India could save $53 million a year in diesel imports. By
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 10:46:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015