Webinar // SoLAR Webinar Series: Solarization of Indian Agriculture: Challenges and Prospects

Tuesday, 2 February 15:00 – 17:00 IST / 10.30-12.30 CET

Background

The IWMI-led Solar Irrigation for Agricultural Resilience (SoLAR) project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is organizing a series of six webinars between 1-5 February 2021. SoLAR project aims to generate knowledge to sustainably manage water-energy and climate interlinkages through the promotion of solar irrigation pumps (SIPs). The goal of the project is to contribute to climate-resilient, gender-equitable, and socially inclusive agrarian livelihoods in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan by supporting government efforts to promote solar irrigation.

Achieving progress in poverty reduction with minimal carbon emission is at the core of the climate and sustainability challenge. This need is particularly acute in South Asia, where further expansion of irrigation holds the promise of pulling smallholders out of poverty, but will also result in large increases in carbon emissions due to overwhelming dependence on fossil fuel-based groundwater pumping. SIPs offer a “climate resilient” solution, yet adoption is slow. Little is also known about the impact of SIPs on groundwater use. In this six-part SDC-IWMI webinar series, we will explore some of these larger questions around energy transition and SIPs in four South Asian countries.

The webinars will be 1.5 hour to 2-hour online events, and will involve speakers from all four countries, as well as speakers from outside the region and will be open to the general public.

Find out more about the SoLAR project. Follow IWMI on Twitter for the latest updates.

Webinar 2: Solarization of Indian Agriculture: Challenges and Prospects

In Webinar 2, we will look at the trajectory of change in SIP landscape in India, and the efforts of various state governments in promoting SIPs, including future prospects of national SIP programs like the KUSUM LINK program

Over the past decade, Solar Irrigation Pumps (SIPs) have captured the imagination of Indian farmers with numbers growing from less than 4,000 in 2010 to nearly 200,000 by 2020. With central support from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), several states have actively promoted SIPs – largely to replace diesel pumps, but also to replace electric pumps with grid-connected SIPs in a few states. The Government of India now plans to take SIP expansion to the next orbit through its ambitious Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) program. With an outlay of ₹38,000 crores (US$ 5.2 billion) and target solar generation capacity of 27 GWp, PM-KUSUM is arguably the world’s largest agri– solarization program. Besides transitioning irrigation to clean and renewable energy, two key objectives of PM-KUSUM are delivering energy security (urja suraksha) and welfare (utthan) for farmers. This webinar, jointly organized by SDC, IWMI and GIZ will discuss evolution of solar irrigation in India, experiences of several Indian states, and the challenges and opportunities facing PM-KUSUM.

Moderator: Mr. Shilp Verma, IWMI, India

 Speakers and Topics:

1. Evolution of solar irrigation in India: How did we get here? Neha Durga, IWMI
2. Solar Irrigation Pilots and Experiments: Experience from the States
   • Mukhyamantri Saur Krushi Vahini Yojana (Maharashtra): Mr. Ashwin Gambhir, PRAYAS
   • Surya Raitha (Karnataka): ManjunathaV., Institute of Social and Economic Change
   • Solar BLDC Pumpsets Scheme (Andhra Pradesh): Siddharth Goel, International Institute of Sustainable Development, IISD
   • Solar Irrigation in tribal Jharkhand: Ayan Deb, Central India Initiative (CInI/ Sustain+)
   • Solar Irrigation pumps in Chhattisgarh: Anas Rahman, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)
   • Asset Utilization of Solar Pumps (Five States): Mandvi Singh, GIZ India 
3. Solarizing India’s Irrigation: Can PM-KUSUM live up to its promise? Abhishek Jain, CEEW

Panelists:

1. Dr. Tushaar Shah, IWMI
2. Dr. Priya Jadhav, IIT Bombay
3. Mr. Ganesh Neelam, Tatatrusts
4. Mr. Nilanjan Ghose, GIZ, India
5. Ms. Divya Kashyap, SDC, India
6. Mr. Mohinder Gulati, Energy Expert

Registration

Register here on Zoom for Webinar 2

More information on the SoLAR webinar series here