india’s energy groundwater nexus
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Tushaar Shah at Stockholm World Water Week 2014.TRANSCRIPT
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.
Total solution to India’s energy-groundwater nexus: Smart Solar Pump Promotion Strategy
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
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.
Total solution to India’s energy-groundwater nexus: Smart Solar Pump Promotion Strategy
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’.
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.
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.
Total solution to India’s energy-groundwater nexus: Smart Solar Pump Promotion Strategy
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.
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
Total solution to India’s energy-groundwater nexus: Smart Solar Pump Promotion Strategy
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.
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.
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