(Latest Op-Ed First; Verbatim Compilation of The Hindu
Op-Ed)
Grid
stability is key (24.02.18)
Electricity is a major concern in rural India, especially
for farmers. The Government of India has come up with an original plan to
address this problem. Instead of transmitting electricity to the farmers, the
government, to start with, wants farmers to use solar energy
to power their irrigation pumps. According to the January 2018 report of the
Council on Energy, Environment and Water, there are about 142,000 solar pumps
in India. The government is planning to install one million solar pumps by
2021.
Solar capacity
To achieve this, the
Union Budget 2018 has allocated close to ₹48,000
crore to set up the Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM). This
programme will help set up more than 28 GW of combined solar capacity through
these solar pumps. Additionally, to ensure optimal use of this solar
energy, and to incentivise farmers to shift to renewable energy, the government
plans to purchase the surplus power through electricity distribution companies.
This proposal will almost certainly increase agricultural incomes and reduce
electricity losses when transmitting power to remote rural areas. Analysts
claim that losses from distribution could fall to about 12% from the current
level of at least 23%. However, the feasibility of purchasing surplus solar
power seems problematic. There is a need to address the issue of grid stability
that this injection of surplus power is bound to create.
The advantage of this scheme is that transmission losses and
power theft would drop significantly. Most rural retailers of power also lose
money as they sell power at a subsidised rate to the poor and the farm sector.
The state-run distribution companies were thus running a loss of ₹4.3 trillion as of September 2015. Local generation of power
in the manner proposed would take care of the above issues.
We believe the disadvantages currently outweigh the
advantages because of the issue of grid stability. This is an issue that is
often neglected. All power grids require balancing. This balancing entails
meeting the demand with adequate supply 24x7 to ensure there is no blackout.
The reason for striking this balance is that electrical energy cannot readily
be stored, meaning that power generation ought to work round the clock. These
electrical gridlines were created to depend on reliable and controllable
generators (coal, oil and even hydroelectric). However, with more and more
power being generated through fluctuating power generators (solar and wind), a
more precise balance will have to be created, which may cause more failures.
Take the example of solar panels that farmers use. These
panels will only generate electricity during daylight hours, so to maintain a
consistent round-the-clock power delivery the grid operators will need to have
a back-up source of power in the form of coal or oil. During the day as well,
they will have to be ready to quickly adjust output to compensate for the rise
and fall of solar power generation due to changing weather and rain.
Output from solar panels can also change due to clouds.
Variations in weather patterns make it more difficult for the grid operator to
predict the balance of electrical energy that will be required to meet the
demand. Because wind and solar power sources constantly generate shortfalls and
excesses, the grid operators send a signal to power plants every few seconds to
ensure that the total amount of power demand at the grid is consistently equal
to the total power supply.
Most countries handle inputs from renewable energy sources
similarly. But India is short of power. Thus, while other nations see solar and
wind power as an energy management problem, India also sees this as a capacity
management problem. Because of India’s sheer size, the variability factor considerably
increases: if some areas have low consumption, others are likely to have high
consumption. More stability can be achieved by integrating the grids into
all-India grids. Expected advances in storage technology would also
significantly improve grid stability.
The plan of the Government of India to purchase solar power
from farmers has nevertheless taken off on a good note. In the Union Budget
2018, the Finance Minister asked governments to put in place adequate
procedures to purchase the excess solar power from farmers. This sale of excess
power has also discouraged overutilisation of groundwater.
However, the only problem that the government seems to be
focussed on is to adequately remunerate the farmers and increase their incomes.
We believe attention also ought to be provided to the stability of the grid,
lest the grid network collapses due to the uncertainties of power supply and
demand.
Armin Rosencranz is a professor of law at Jindal Global
Law School, Sonipat, where Aditya Vora is a fourth year student
XXX
Centre’s plan may boost farmers’ solar power use (02.02.18)
The Centre has announced a ₹1.4
lakh-crore scheme for promoting decentralised solar power
production of up to 28,250 MW to help farmers, according to R. K. Singh,
Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy.
The Centre will spend ₹48,000
crore on the ten-year scheme which was announced in the Union Budget
2018-19. Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan or
KUSUM scheme would provide extra income to farmers, by giving them an option to
sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their
barren lands, the Minister said.
It would help in de-dieselising the sector as also the
DISCOMS, he said.
India had about 30 million farm pumps that include 10
million pumps running on diesel.
‘Positive outcomes’
The Minister said the positive outcomes that are expected
when the scheme is fully implemented across the country include promotion of
decentralised solar power production, reduction of transmission losses as well
as providing support to the financial health of DISCOMs by reducing the subsidy
burden to the agriculture sector. The scheme would also promote energy
efficiency and water conservation and provide water security to farmers.
The components of the scheme include building 10,000 MW
solar plants on barren lands and providing sops to DISCOMS to purchase the
electricity produced, ‘solarising’ existing pumps of 7250 MW as well as
government tube wells with a capacity of 8250 MW and distributing 17.5 lakh
solar pumps.
The 60% subsidy on the solar pumps provided to farmers will
be shared between the Centre and the States while 30% would be provided through
bank loans. The balance cost has to be borne by the farmers.
XXX
Towards solar-powered agriculture (19.01.18)
In the past few years, solar pumps have consistently piqued
the interest of various bureaucrats and politicians. The Prime Minister spoke
about solar pumps from the ramparts of the Red Fort in 2016. There is no
shortage of ideas which the Centre, States, civil society organisations, and
enterprises are adopting to enhance penetration of solar for irrigation. But
how should India proceed with this impactful technology?
Case studies
Maharashtra is solarising its agricultural feeders by
installing solar power plants at the substation level, through competitive
bidding. Karnataka is promoting solar pumps for existing grid-connected farmers
under a net-metering regime, allowing them to generate additional income by
feeding back surplus energy into the grid. In eastern States, GIZ, a German
development agency, has piloted community ownership models providing
water-as-a-service using solar pumps.
Despite the diversity of approaches and significant
government subsidies, only about 1,42,000 pumps have been deployed till date
against a target of one million pumps by 2021. Such limited demand, in a
country with 132 million farmers and 28 million existing irrigation pumps,
calls for a reflection on existing deployment approaches.
In India, 53% of the net-sown area is still rain-fed. Solar
pumps hold potential to enhance irrigation access, advance low-carbon
agriculture, reduce the burden of rising electricity subsidies, and improve the
resilience of farmers against a changing climate. But farmers’ perspectives
have to be considered and the local context appreciated when deploying the
technology to maximise economic returns.
What can be done
At the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), we
have published three new research studies. I propose seven takeaways for the
government to consider while promoting solar for irrigation. First, target
marginal farmers with smaller solar pumps, particularly in areas with good
groundwater development potential. Our research, based on a recent primary
survey of 1,600 farmers in Uttar Pradesh, revealed that close to 60% of
marginal farmers relied on buying water, the costliest option for irrigation, or
on renting pumps to meet their needs.
Second, couple solar pump deployment with micro-irrigation
and water harvesting interventions at the farm and community levels. While lack
of irrigation is a major bottleneck, 30% of farmers reported limited water availability
for irrigation as a challenge.
Third, focus on technology demonstration and deploy at least
five solar pumps in each block of the country. CEEW research suggests that such
efforts could have a profound effect on farmers’ willingness to adopt solar
pumps and spur bottom-up demand.
Fourth, in regions with already good penetration of electric
pumps, prefer feeder solarisation through competitive bidding over solarisation
of individual pumps. A comparative economic analysis finds that solarising individual
grid-connected pumps is the costliest approach for the government to expand
irrigation cover, while not being the most attractive option for farmers.
Fifth, in regions with prevailing local water markets,
promote community-owned solar pumps. CEEW research finds that while joint
ownership drew interest from 20% of farmers, close to 80% of them were
interested in buying water from a community-owned or enterprise-owned solar
pump at competitive prices.
Sixth, encourage sharing of solar pumps among farmers
through farmer extension programmes. Given zero marginal cost of pumping with
solar, water sharing, already a prevalent practice in many parts of the
country, helps put a marginal price to the water.
Seventh, provide interest-subsidy to farmers combined with
reduced capital subsidy to enable large-scale deployment of solar pumps in a
shorter span of time. Such an approach would cover a greater number of farmers,
helping them reap the benefits of solar pumps sooner, and increase overall
returns to the economy.
Guided by on-ground experiences and an expanding body of
research, the government should continuously improve and innovate its support
mechanisms on solar for irrigation. India must exploit the potential of this
decentralised technology to achieve the dual national targets of 100 GW of
solar and doubling farmers income by 2022 — setting a world-class example of
greening the economy and overcoming its developmental challenges,
simultaneously.
Abhishek Jain is a Senior Programme Lead at the CEEW, an independent
not-for-profit policy research organisation. Email: abhishek.jain@ceew.in
(All of the above articles have been taken straight from The
Hindu. We owe it all to them. This is just an effort to consolidate opinions
expressed in The Hindu in a subject-wise manner.)
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