india’s energy groundwater nexus

India’s Energy Groundwater Nexus: Present State and Future Prospects

Tushaar ShahSenior Fellow, IWMIMember, GWP-TEC

Since 1830, few countries in the world have invested as much in canal irrigation

as India has.. today..

Yet, the mainstay of Indian agriculture today are 25 million private groundwater wells- 15 m electric and 10 m diesel.

Each dot represents 5000 irrigation wells

Electricity use: 120-150 thousand GWh;

Diesel use: 5-8 billion litres

Groundwater pumped: 230-250 billion m3

Area irrigated 60-70 million ha

During the 1970’s, governments anxious to expand irrigation began to subsidize farm power for irrigation.

Soon, this elixir became the opiate..for a politically strident vote-bank

Energy divide of Indian groundwater economy

Groundwater rich but energy-poor eastern India dependent on diesel..

Groundwater scarce western corridor with electric tubewells with power subsidies

Farm power subsidies soon became perverse

Impacts• Agricultural economy

addicted to subsidies• Vote-bank politics• Depleted aquifers• Bankrupt electricity

industry• Massive waste of

power and water• Anarchy on electric

feeders

0 20 40 60 80 100

Madhya Pradesh

Haryana

Gujarat

Andhra Pradesh

Karnataka

Rajasthan (Transco)

Tamil Nadu

Punjab

Maharashtra

U.P (Power corp)

West Bengal

Bihar

Percentage

Electricity subsidy as a percentage of state fiscal deficits

very high in some states

BRISCOE, 2005, Data pertains to 2002

Many electricity

utilities went bankrupt..

Yet farmers received

poor quality power supply

Perverse electricity-

groundwater nexus at its

worst..

West Bengal’s textbook pricing solution: meter and TOD tariff

West Bengal pulled this off because it has few electric

tube wells. In western states, this would fell governments..

Gujarat’s Jyotigram Yojana: second-best

but politically feasible rationing solution

Figure 1 a Electricity Network Before Figure 1 b Electricity Network after

Gujarat, the original ‘basket case’ rewired the country-side and created a tamper-proof system of

rationing farm power..

Community-driven water harvesting and groundwater recharge movement in Saurashtra has revitalized dying

agriculture

Meghal basin drainage network Profusion of check dams built by people, with government support

Gujarat’s agriculture has been growing @ 9+%This growth is energized by groundwater

irrigation.Yet, Gujarat is the only state in western India

where groundwater levels are improving..and the electricity utility is again making money..

Investing in decentralized Managed Aquifer Recharge can ease the energy-groundwater nexus in western India

Energy use/m3 of groundwaterWithout MAR With decentralized MAR

The energy-groundwater nexus in

Eastern India, Bangladesh, Nepal terai and Pakistan

PunjabNo electricity; little subsidy;

Abundant groundwater; massive poverty; but the

diesel-dependent groundwater economy is

shrinking with each increase in diesel price;

Solar Irrigation Pumps:Five Problems, One Solution

Total solution to India’s energy-groundwater nexus: Smart Solar Pump Promotion Strategy

Problem 1:A1nannual farm power subsidy

bill: US $ 6 billion

Replacing all electric irrigation pumps in

India by solar pumps would save US $ 5

billion/year in subsidies

Eastern India: solar pump subsidies to create

entrepreneurial Irrigation Service Providers

Smart subsidy-loan model for solar pumps and buried pipe

distribution system to catalyze vibrant local irrigation service

markets

Western India: solar power as cash crop

1.Subsidize solar pumps to wean farmer away from grid power; 2. provide assured buy-back of

surplus solar power by net metering at same terms as MW

scale solar plants; 3. organize solar farmer co-ops to pool solar power in a village and

evacuate it at single point.


Problem 2:A1Unreliable, poor

quality grid power supply during nights

Solar pumps can offer 2500-3500 hours/year

of reliable power during the day year-round all

over India





markets







Problem 3:A1Nperverse

incentives drive groundwater depletion in

western India

With assured buyback of surplus solar power

from solar farmer coops, farmers will

treat solar energy as a lucrative ‘ cash crop’.





markets












Problem 4:A1Rising diesel costs shrink

groundwater economy of eastern

India with immiserising results

Solar pump based Irrigation Service

Markets are insulated from soaring diesel

prices and from unreliable grid power.





markets


Problem5:Agroundwater

economy accounts for 6% of India’s carbon emission

Replacing thermal power and diesel by solar pumps transforms India’s ‘dirty’ groundwater irrigation

economy into clean and green.





markets






Thank You for this opportunity

Governments have begun offering outrageously lucrative solar pump

subsidies.

But these are dumb. They promote solar pump as only a ‘green’ energy solution.

A smart subsidy would promote solar pumps as an energy-water-environment-livelihoods solution

india’s energy groundwater nexus

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