Renewable Energy for Economic Viability

Abstract

India’s agricultural backbone are the smallholder farmers, who possess less than 2 hectares of land, and account for 86% of the landholdings. 65% of these smallholders grow cereal crops like paddy, wheat, and maize. For these crops, irrigation and farm mechanization have significant energy input costs in the form of electricity and diesel consumption. For water-intensive crops like paddy farmers rely on a combination of grid electricity and diesel pumps. Maize farmers rely on diesel-powered dryers post-harvest to dry quickly and reduce losses. Tractors are used for land preparation and also for local transport. At a national level, these farm machinery consume 13% of diesel in retail and direct sales combined (PPAC, 2013). India is among the countries with more than six peak sun hours per day With such a reliable supply of solar (renewable) energy, it is possible to complement and reduce the diesel consumption in agriculture over the next few decades.