- In June, an IWMI-led pilot project, funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), helped one pioneering Indian farmer to profit from sunshine. When wheat and banana farmer RamanbhaiParmar of Anand District, Gujarat, had finished irrigating his crops, he began selling energy produced by the solar panels powering his water pump back to the grid. The first local farmer to profit in this way, he received INR 7,500 (around USD 110) for 1,500 kWh of electricity produced over 4 months, as part of the Solar Power as a Remunerative Crop (SPaRC) initiative.
Gujarat is one of India’s sunniest states, receiving 3,000 hours of
sunshine a year. However, extended hot, dry spells and increasingly
unpredictable rainfall are making farming a challenge. Many farmers
have begun taking advantage of subsidized energy to pump groundwater to irrigate their crops, often taking more than they need. With
solar pumps becoming increasingly popular for their green credentials
and ‘free’ energy, there was a concern that unrestrained pumping
would soon deplete groundwater resources. 
- This is where SPaRC came in. The scientists hoped that giving farmers
the option to sell excess electricity generated by their solar panels
would encourage them to use only the water they needed. The
buyback scheme could also protect farm incomes in the event of a
crop failing and – if widely adopted – reduce pressure on the state’s
overburdened electricity board. Had farmer Parmar run his pump instead of selling the excess energy it produced, he would have extracted approximately 8 million liters of groundwater.
“Solar crops are a very exciting example of a ‘triple win’,” said Tushaar Shah, Senior Fellow at IWMI. “Farmers, the state and precious groundwater reserves all benefit from a single intervention. We know that India’s farmers are extremely responsive to incentives that improve productivity and incomes. By offering them the chance to sell the surplus electricity generated by their solar-powered water pumps, we could make agriculture in the country cleaner and greener.”
On the back of the initial pilot project, IWMI is now helping to develop the world’s first solar irrigation cooperative, again with funding from CCAFS. In collaboration with the Government of Gujarat, Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI) and the local electricity distribution company Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Ltd. (MGVCL), a pilot project has been established in Dhundi village, Anand.
The six farmers involved in the project have each installed solar pumps and are connected to a micro-grid, which, in turn, is connected to the national grid at a single metered point. The farmers each contributed 10% of the capital cost of their equipment. The cooperative has begun selling back surplus solar power under a 25-year power purchase agreement with MGVCL at INR 4.63/kWh. Two further pilots are planned for Bihar and North Gujarat.
