Energetica India nº91 July August 2020

SOLAR POWER Solar Pump solutions reshaping Indian agriculture sector India is one of the leading countries to utilise and make solar pumps effective in the world. Over 181,000 solar wa- ter pumps had been installed across the country by October 2019 with a target of adding over 10,000 MW of solar capacity to solarize the agriculture sector. 46 energetica INDIA- July-Aug_2020 Rangarajan Ramaswamy Senior Vice President, Water Utility Export Grundfos Life Link & Solar, Grundfos India. India is an agrarian based economy which makes our dependency on water high. According to The Food and Agri- culture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations,70% of India’s rural households depend on agriculture as their primary source of livelihood. India’s agriculture sector contributes to approximately 16% of its GDP and is heavily dependent on water and energy. While many parts of the country battles water scarcity, agri- culture is severely affected due to lack of water and irregular connectivity to energy sources to pump water. Indi- an agriculture sector has faced some severe crisis due to extreme climate changes which has led to huge losses. According to an August 2018 report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), it is estimat- ed that of the total 29.93 million agri- cultural pumps, around 0.13m are solar powered, 8.8m are diesel powered and 21m operate on grid connected elec- tricity. However, these grid /diesel driven pumps lead to a high operational expen- diture for farmers and has a deleterious impact on environment and ecosystem. Hence, solar pumps were introduced to reduce the money spent on generator fuel by farmers and transform the avail- ability of irrigation water. Water, energy and food are essential for human well-being, poverty reduction and sustainable development. Glob- al projections indicate that demand for freshwater, energy and food will increase significantly over the next decades. Ag - riculture accounts for 70 percent of total global freshwater withdrawals, making it the largest user of water. Water is used for agricultural production, forestry and fishery, along the entire agri-food supply chain, and it is used to produce or trans- port energy in different forms. In India, the Green Revolution of the 1960s helped ensure food security for the starving millions. However, the eco- nomics of crop pricing and markets associated with the Green Revolution had damaging and far-reaching conse- quences on the country’s water, energy and land resources. The government of India could achieve 38% of its renewable electricity-generation target justby shift- ing from conventional pumps to solar ir- rigation pumps. India sets an ambitious target to achieve 175 GW renewable energy by the year 2022. Of this, more than 55% i.e., is 100 GW is to be obtained from solar energy. The 100 GW is further divided into 60 GW for utility-scale and 40 GW for roof- top projects. Solar dominates the renew- able energy space, as it is commercial- ly viable, easy to install, and boasts of low cost of operation and maintenance. Despite India’s rapid development and urbanization, industrial and domestic water users in India consume 10 percent and 8 percent respectively, while the ag- ricultural sector consumes 82 percent of total supply. Role of solar pumps Considering India’s tropical nature, so- lar pumps can be employed to provide reliable water supply for irrigation and ancillary activities in such remote loca- tions. This shift ensures in an increase in sustainability while improving cost and operational efficiency. Technology driven solar solutions ensure that farmers can operate these pumps without frequent downtime or maintenance requirements. The majority of pumps used today are either grid based or run on diesel. How- ever, the rising price of diesel, its envi- ronmental implications and frequent power failures requires the adoption of renewable solutions in rural or off-grid areas. Sustainability being one of the utmost priorities and keeping this in mind, Grundfos is constantly working on solutions that harnesses renewables. With applications to improve drinking water accessibility and agriculture, 6% of the total portfolio caters to this market currently. Cutting-edge solar pumping solutions will help farmers in remote lo- cations access water with minimal ener- gy consumption. In order to strengthen