wl-7023-The Case for Grid-connected Solar Irrigation Pumps:Evidence from Gujarat’s Suryashakti Kisan Yojana (SKY)

India’s solar irrigation program is going seriously astray. Off-grid solar pumps waste 2/3rd of the energy they generate. Maharashtra’s solar agricultural feeders avoid energy waste but continue delivering free power to farmers, thus driving groundwater depletion. These are pure energy solutions that ignore solarisation’s potential gains in livelihoods and environmental sustainability . Gujarat’s innovative pilot, Suryashakti Kisan Yojana (SKY), captures all these gains but needs reinvention. SKY solarized and net-metered 4300 electric tubewells and began purchasing farmers’ surplus solar power under a 25 year guarantee. We present statistical evidence to show that its behavioural impacts are striking. Scaling out SKY can get tubewells metered, phase out power subsidies, promote distributed solar generation and utilise full energy potential, curtail line losses, incentivize energy-water conservation, reduce carbon-footprint of pump irrigation and, above all, supplement farmer incomes. An improved, market-driven version of SKY presented here draws upon the design features of Gujarat’s spectacularly successful residential rooftop solar program. We show that rooftop solar has mostly benefited well-off urban homeowners at the expense of electricity utilities. However, incorporating its features in to a new-age SKY can not only strengthen utility finances but launch a frontal attack on India’s pernicious energy-water-food nexus.