POWER VISION -SOLAR AS ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE

Power Vision - Solar as Alternative Energy in Indian Agriculture

Energy places major role in any country's development. In India the role of energy both in agriculture &  industrial sectors are very important as over 72% of our population lives in rural areas and their livelihoods are linked to Agriculture. At present the major power generation is coal based (53%) and if the situation continues like this, it will have severe impact on India's fossil fuels, drain in foreign exchange and the most worst impact will be on environment.

India being a tropical country with over 300 sunny days, amounting to 3000 sunshine hours in a year, the theoretical solar power reception is around 5 trillion kilowatt hours, which is very huge and one year solar power is more than all fossil power reserves of our nation.

Around 72 % of country population living in villages, out of which about 50% families are landless, reflects on growing inequalities. The landless families are over 65% in AP, Telangana, WB, Bihar, Punjab, TN (better placed due to rural industries) & Kerala (Gulf employment), exhibiting the feudalistic behaviors. As for a urban slums study being conducted by a well reputed professor in Bangalore, the unorganized migration is more from AP (Royalseema), WB, TN and they are living in temporary housing( plastic sheets) working as daily wagers, maids, drivers etc and organized migration is there from Bihar, Orissa, Assam etc as security guards, hotels, malls etc through contractors. The living conditions are pathetic, unhygienic and if attention is not paid it may lead to sporadic diseases and unsafe behaviors. I am sure this may be the case with most of growing Indian cities.

If this is the situation at present with sizable population living in villages, imagine the flight of urban living and infrastructure even if another 10% population migrate to cities (unfortunately the migration is happening to few cities only). There is a need for strengthening the rural India equally like our cities, to balance the economy and to attain uniform sustainable development. These can be addressed through strengthening rural infrastructure. Roads & Electricity play key role in development. If the power sector is given focus it will address the existing problems of Agriculture, at the same time leave scope for rural industries. With alternative/supplementary employment is generated to Agriculture, the migration will come down for sure.  With limitations of power generation through hydro/thermal, tapping huge potential in solar may be a better option.

With around 2 crores pump sets & 5.75 Lakh villages electrified, the demand for power is huge in rural India and popular Governments supply power to irrigation free or at highly subsidized price. In Major agricultural states the Agriculture power supply is very erratic with low voltage and supply is for 7 to 9 hours that too mostly during night hours. Night power supply has negative impact on farmers life styles and deaths due to snake bites are being reported frequently.

Though the PV panel costs are coming down and making the solar power comparable to thermal power, the major limitations are huge land requirement ( 5 acre land / 1 MW) and generation is possible for 7 to 9 hours in a day. Instead of generating at bigger establishments and distribute through power lines, we can look at the generation at individual farmer level. This may cost little more than bulk generation, but will reduce transmission losses. It will address the land issues, as at individual pump set level land is made available free of cost, also the entire irrigation power can be supplied during daytime.

 The agriculture sector power consumption is about 20% of total consumption ( 30-33% in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka & 24 to 25% in AP, Telangana, MP & Maharashtra). Other larger agricultural states WB, Bihar, UP , Orissa & Chhattisgarh are lagging behind with 5% consumption of power in Agriculture, in fact they are consuming huge diesel power, having impact on foreign exchange. Once these states shift focus on electric power to irrigation pumps the demand from the sector will have steep increase. Power is being supplied free to farmers in TN,AP Haryana, HP, Orissa, Telangana & at nominal rates of Rs. 1 to 2/- per unit in other states. With 20 million pump sets already energized with growth rate of 3% every year, the consumption of Agri sector is about  134 billion KwH.  

In a hypothetical situation, to convert existing 20 million pumps into solar installations , the country needs an investment of Rs. 10.50 Lakh Crores and it's about Rs. 1.05 Lakh Crores investment to convert 2 million pumps in AP & Telangana. The investments may look huge , but it's worth and the entire project is bankable. Before taking up the project in large scale, piloting is essential to stabilize the technology, to bring in cost effectiveness, show casing the operational strategy etc.    

The rural power grid normally have 5 MW (11 KVA)substations connected to 300 to 400 pump sets, rice mills and few other rural industries other than village power supply. Often the village supply is delinked from pump sets, as the pump sets are supplied power for 7 hours in a day.

For designing an appropriate rural mini solar power grid, the average HP of pump set is considered as  5 HP(3.7KW) , 7.5 Kwp solar panels( 6 Kwp for 5 HP pump & balance for rural supply), with rated loading factor of 90% on pump,  3 Hours (6 to 8 AM & 5 to 6 PM) - 10% energy generation, 2 Hours (8 to 9 AM & 4 to 5 PM)- 45% energy generation, 7 Hours (9 AM to 4 PM)-  65% energy generation of rated output are considered.  Also the sunny days are 300 ( 185 cropping & 115 non cropping sunny days) & 250 cropping days are considered. For about 65 cropping days, the grid power has to support the agricultural operations and grid will get extra power during 115 non cropping sunny days. The existing pumps shall be used with 3 phase supply, variable frequency drive,  change in cables, grid connectivity with meter etc.

With solar installation for 400 pump sets, the grid will have 3 MW solar power available and the balance requirement for the substation shall be drawn from main grid. The daily power generation is about 17250 units out of which 12000 units ( 70% power generated will go for Agriculture)  & 5300 units (30 % for village domestic supply & rural industries).  As the installation is on a small piece of land at farm level, the land is free for the project, also individual farmers maintain the panels (cleaning/washing etc) hence reduce the maintenance cost.

  

Rural domestic power supply as well as rural industrial power supply can be improved drastically, resulting in environmental friendly industrial growth in rural areas, even rural BPOs, small/medium IT service providers shall be encouraged in rural areas, resulting in balancing the employment potential. 

Requesting the Government/ Policy makers/ Entrepreneurs to look into the possibilities of exploring the mini solar grid opportunities and see that attempts are made to address the issues related to  imbalances in the economy. 

Acknowledgments/Thanks to Sri. Nagendraprasad Garu, Vijayawada & Sri. Navakrishna Akkineni , Advisor, AUO, Taiwan for sharing Technical information. If anyone is interested in knowing more details and workouts, please feel free to contact me.

BG Reddy -9866889246-grbonthu@gmail.com