There are around 20 million grid-connected irrigation pumps in India. The Government of India has identified solar pumping as a potential intervention to de-link irrigation from the grid and avoid greenhouse gas emissions due to electricity generation in the grid using fossil fuel-based power plants. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) scheme targets to solarize 1.5 million existing grid connected agricultural pumps (Component C) and support installation of 2 million off grid solar pumps (Component B).
With states coming up with grid connected solar pumping projects under the PM KUSUM scheme, there is a potential to economize the electricity consumption of the pumps by replacing them with energy efficient (EE) ones.
Against the above background, a team of consultants implemented an assignment titled ‘Investment Prospectus Preparation Meeting Green Bonds/ Climate Bonds Certification Requirement for Mobilizing Financing for Efficient Grid Connected Solar Pumps in Selected States of India’. This was done as part of the Strategic Partnership for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (SPIPA) project implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and coordinated by the Delegation of the European Union. The nodal ministry for the project was the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) while for the solar pumping activity the partner Ministry was the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
The specific objectives of the assignment were to undertake a technical evaluation and stakeholder survey in three states for project implementation, and to prepare an investment prospectus meeting Climate Bonds Initiative or comparable green bond certification requirement for mobilizing financing for grid-connected efficient solar pumps.
As part of the project tasks, an as-is assessment and stakeholder survey in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh was undertaken to understand the ground realities and to assess the different models of implementation of grid connected solar pumping programs. Based on this, a demonstration pilot, in which 22 pumps existing pumps were replaced with EE pumps, was implemented and the impact on savings in electricity, water and possible increase in earnings of farmers was studied.
Evaluation of performance of the EE pumps showed that there is savings in input power drawn which is a direct benefit to the DISCOM as the peak load requirement at the feeder level will decrease. This will help DISCOM to reduce its peak power purchases on the wholesale market and thereby lowering their overall cost of power procurement. Keeping the output same as earlier, there is increase in water output per unit of electricity consumed. The savings in electricity consumption means that more solar units can be fed into the grid thereby increasing the earnings of the farmers. The savings in electricity drawl is a big benefit for the DISCOM as its cost to serve is much higher as compared to the tariff that it charges to agricultural consumers. Finally, reduction in consumption of grid electricity can lead to a mitigation of 0.20–1.73 tonnes of CO2 in an annual basis. Post implementation of the pilot demonstration a perception study was undertaken which reinforced the above benefits. A major finding from this exercise is that farmers are interested in adopting EE pumps provided the cost is comparable to normal pumps. This means that for large-scale promotion of such pumps, extending subsidies might be necessary.