Solar pumps and South Asia’s energy-groundwater nexus: exploring implications and reimagining its future

Shah, Tushaar; Rajan, Abhishek; Prakash, Gyan; Verma, Shilp; Durga, Neha

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aae53f

Cited by 56 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Project financing must take an integrated view and consider the influence of PV development on water resources. For example, there are concerns in groundwater stressed areas of South Asia that subsidized expansion of PV could lead to increased groundwater stress due to reduced electricity costs for groundwater pumping 44 . PV subsidies in similarly groundwater stressed irrigated areas should be focused on promoting agrivoltaics and include financing to cover crop yield impacts from the switch to rainfed operations.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Potential for Rainfed Agrivoltaics in Groundwater-Stressed Regions

Parkinson

Hunt

2020

Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett.

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Agrivoltaics co-locate crops with solar photovoltaics (PV) to provide sustainability benefits across land, energy and water systems. Policies supporting a switch from irrigated farming to rainfed, grid-connected agrivoltaics in regions experiencing groundwater stress can mitigate both groundwater depletion and CO2 from electricity generation. Here, hydrology, crop, PV and financial models are integrated to assess the economic potential for rainfed agrivoltaics in groundwater stressed regions. The analysis reveals 11.2-37.6 PWh/yr of power generation potential, equivalent to 40-135% of the global electricity supply in 2018. Almost 90% of groundwater depletion in 2010 (~150 km 3) occurred where the levelized cost for grid-connected rainfed agrivoltaic generation are 50-100 USD/MWh. Potential revenue losses following the switch from irrigated to rainfed crops represents 0-34% of the levelized generation cost. Future cost-benefit analysis must value the avoided groundwater stress from the perspective of longterm freshwater availability.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Potential for Rainfed Agrivoltaics in Groundwater-Stressed Regions

Parkinson

Hunt

2020

Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett.

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“…This is because of similarities of these policies to JGY, namely, solar irrigation pumps have very low operating costs, ration power (by sunlight) and provide power of reliable quality. Further, there are large capital subsidies for their installation (Shah, Rajan, Rai, Verma, & Durga, ) so confirmation, or otherwise, of the effects of these subsidies on groundwater depletion is materially important from a policy perspective.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Possible policy alternatives suitable for testing, replication, and experimentation in relation to their effects on groundwater storage include water recharge schemes (Shah, ), water law reform (Cullet, ), water metering, water accounting (Berbel & Mateos, ), and water pricing and incentives for water conservation (Fishman, Devineni, & Raman, ) subsidies for solar irrigation pumps (Shah et al, ). Where such policies are tested, replicated, and are also shown to be successful in multiple and different circumstances, they may be suitable to be upscaled to promote the long‐term sustainability of India's groundwater resources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

India's depleting groundwater: When science meets policy

Chindarkar

Grafton

2019

Asia & Pacific Policy Stud

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A commonly applied policy to India's ongoing depletion of groundwater is feeder separation. Introduced in Gujarat as the Jyotigram Yojana (JGY) scheme, it provides a separate and rationed electricity supply to farmers and an unrationed power supply to nonagricultural users. JGY is claimed to increase groundwater storage. By using Gujarat district-level data from 1996 to 2011 and by separately applying differencein-differences and Bayesian regressions, we find that groundwater storage has continued to decrease with JGY. We contend that our empirical results show that JGY has been implemented without adequate consideration of (1) a publication bias whereby researchers have a greater likelihood of having their results published if they are statistically significant and show a positive outcome and (2) a 'barrier' effect such that communicating evidence across science and policy divides means that evidence may not be accepted, even when true, and this limits policy advice and options.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

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“…Solar‐energized pump irrigation is also expanding rapidly in India and elsewhere as the price and availability of this technology make it a viable option for farmers. Shah et al () summarizes the opportunities and challenges solar technology offers to farm household income, power generation and distribution entities, management of water resources, and utilization of government resources for subsidies. However, while the positive benefits can be easily identified, the danger of facilitating unregulated groundwater extraction must not be overlooked.…”

Section: Prospects For Irrigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Icid Vision 2030—the Present Status and Prospects for Irrigated Agriculture

Makin¹

2020

Irrigation and Drainage

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Population growth and improving economic status will inevitably increase the demand for food. In 2012 the FAO estimated that global food production must increase 40% by 2050 in order to feed the expected population of 9 billion in 2050. Furthermore, developing countries would likely need to double food production to meet demands under the current market, institutional and economic systems. Irrigated agriculture is about twice as productive as rainfed. But increasing competition for land, water and labour from industry and municipalities will make meeting the growing demand for food, fibre and biofuels a major challenge for the irrigated agriculture subsector. The ICID Vision 2030 sets out an ambitious agenda for ICID and its members to revitalize the organization and to provide leadership to the irrigated agriculture subsector. This paper explores the current status of irrigated agriculture and identifies some critical areas for members to ensure ICID continues as the leading professional organization in agricultural irrigation and drainage. RÉSUMÉLa croissance démographique et l'amélioration de la situation économique augmenteront inévitablement la demande de produits alimentaires. En 2012 la FAO estimait que la production alimentaire mondiale devait augmenter de 40% d'ici 2050 pour nourrir la population attendue de 9 milliards d'habitants en 2050. En outré, les pays en développement devraient probablement doubler leur production alimentaire pour répondre à la demande du marché institutionnel et économique actuel. L'agriculture irriguée est environ deux fois plus productive que l'agriculture pluviale. Cependant la concurrence croissante de l'industrie et des municipalités pour la terre, l'eau et la main-d'oeuvre obligera à faire face à la demande croissante d'aliments, de fibres et de biocarburants: un défi majeur pour le sous-secteur de l'agriculture irriguée. La Vision 2030 de la CIID définit un programme ambitieux pour la CIID et ses membres qui vise à revitaliser l'organisation et à assurer le leadership du sous-secteur de l'agriculture irriguée. Ce document explore l'état actuel de l'agriculture irriguée et identifie quelques zones critiques pour les membres afin de garantir que la CIID reste la principale organisation professionnelle dans l'irrigation et le drainage agricoles.

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Solar pumps and South Asia’s energy-groundwater nexus: exploring implications and reimagining its future

Cited by 56 publications

References 14 publications

Economic Potential for Rainfed Agrivoltaics in Groundwater-Stressed Regions

Economic Potential for Rainfed Agrivoltaics in Groundwater-Stressed Regions

India's depleting groundwater: When science meets policy

Icid Vision 2030—the Present Status and Prospects for Irrigated Agriculture

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