Solar-Energy Solutions: for the Pakistani Agriculture Sector (Tube wells only).

Solar-Energy Solutions: for the Pakistani Agriculture Sector (Tube wells only).

Introduction

This paper seeks to present some aspects of the energy solutions for agriculture sector related to tube wells only. The agriculture sector utilizes energy for its various functions these other uses will be discussed in a separate paper.

Pakistan’s agriculture sector contributes a fifth of the country’s GDP and employs almost half of the labor force, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2013-14. The total geographical area of Pakistan is 79.6 million hectares. About 27% of the area is currently under cultivation. Of this area, 80% is irrigated through artificially, i.e., not through rainwater. Of the total cultivated area, about 82% or around 17.58 million hectares is irrigated artificially, while crop production in the remaining 3.96 million hectares depends on upon rainfall, for most of the part. Around 1.2 million irrigation pumps have so far been installed in Pakistan. Amongst these 362,626 are installed in areas with a groundwater table of 30 feet or less, which makes them ideal for conversion to solar pumping. The productivity of agriculture sector is dependent on the consistent supply of water. High cost and frequent shortages of fuel are the usual impediments to the smooth working and functioning of water extraction by tube wells. Since 90% of these pumps use diesel directly in diesel pumps, converting the pumps on the solar system will result in 27% savings in diesel and fuel consumption for irrigation pumping. Moreover, the implementation of solar tube wells means an uninterrupted supply of water; the results of which appear in the form of increased production/yield. This solution is cost-effective too as it only involves one time/initial cost after which the source of energy i.e. the sun will not cost you a dime. With a payback period of fewer than three years, solar water pumping is the “best fit” for all irrigation needs.

Agricultural solar energy systems generate electricity from sunshine and can be installed on roofs or in open areas. They provide electricity to farms and other rural businesses at a fixed cost that in most cases is much lower than the cost for electricity provided by a local utility. However, the specific costs vary considerably based on location, utility provider, energy use profile, economic incentives and how the utility treats excess generation.

The overall costs of agricultural solar systems have dropped dramatically over the past decade. One reason for this is the declining cost of solar panels, racking systems and inverters. The installed costs of solar systems have dropped to around $2 per watt. Another is the availability of incentives for renewable energy systems from NEPRA   requiring them to allow the interconnection of solar energy and other renewable energy systems into the electricity grid, and to make payments to renewable energy generators for electricity produced also known as “net metering”. Net metering is a mechanism that credits solar energy producers for the electricity they add to the grid. If more energy is produced than used during a billing period, then a credit either in dollars or kWh for the excess production is made to the producer.  

Availability of net metering the utility provides has a significant impact on the payback period for an agricultural solar system. An extreme example of this is a 20 kW solar system used to provide energy to a farmer farmer. The solar electricity is generated over a year while electricity used for say tube well pumping   is only used for a fewer hours than the solar is available    The payback period is 20 years when net metering is offered based on a dollar credit each billing period, even when no incentives are used. But if kWh of electricity were credited each billing period and the accumulated kWh over the year were credited to the producer, it would have a payback period of just 12 years, even without any incentives.   

Baluchistan Tube well – Circular Debt

To eliminate the contributions of Baluchistan tube wells towards the formation of circular debt, government is likely to switch 30,000 tube wells to solar power from conventional electricity in Baluchistan. Feasibility studies are being prepared tp\ to implement this. The Federal Ministry pays around   Rs23 billion per year as subsidy for these 30,000 tube wells, which are consuming 900 megawatts, and their conversion to solar power will result in reducing the burden on the national exchequer   
It is feared that availability of cheap electricity will have negative effect on ground water table due to overexploitation as the province was already water but it should be considered that electricity is being supplied to Baluchistan tube wells at one third the cost to the farmers and both Federal and Provincial governments pay an equivalent amount each.

 Diesel to Solar conversion of Tube wells

The majority of Pakistan's tube well pumps, which pump out underground water, run on the strained national grid or on diesel power. With a fuel consumption of around 3-5/ litres/hr., the average daily expense per diesel tube well is about US $ 7/day.

In Pakistan, there are over 1.1 million agriculture tube wells, with only 30% of them operated by electricity. As the country faces a growing energy crisis, farmers are left with no option but to switch from diesel to solar energy to irrigate their crops. Tube wells consume around 2,000 million liters of diesel every year.

A typical example would tube  wells on Diesel consume diesel cost at  to Rs 29,000 per month An expenditure of Rs 1.8 million resulted in long term economic benefits to the farmer. Chairman of Pakistan Solar Association   urged the government to do more to spread solar power: he called for a 20,000-MW solar target by 2026, following the example of India’s National Solar Mission..  Pakistan should continue to develop its renewable energy sector as a way of reducing its reliance on volatile fossil imports for electricity.

Pakistan is located in a region with ample sun energy that makes it suitable to utilize solar power technologies. The conversion of tube wells onto solar energy shall help reduce long-term costs for the farmers; provide a predictable supply of electricity, and a hedge against market fuel price volatility. This shall further help mitigate harmful emissions. According to an estimate, per hour cost of running an average-sized tube well on electricity is Rs138, on diesel it is Rs173 and on solar energy it is Rs83. Farmers who have tube wells with less than 50 feet water table can save Rs131 per hour and hence Rs. 314, 400 per year can be saved with solar tube wells as compared with diesel-run tube wells.
The electricity supply to the rural communities remains unreliable due to network conditions and due to the forced load shedding policy where feeders with high theft are switched off.   Solar tube wells are now becoming increasingly affordable and can be deployed for both Open Flood Irrigation and Drip Irrigation methods.  . Conservative estimates by experts have indicated that the agricultural yield in Pakistan can be increased more than 20% only by having timely availability of water. Of course, if farmers have water supply in their own control, through the use of solar tube wells, they could further invest in yield enhancing technologies like; drip-irrigation, green-houses, and tunnel farming. In order to ensure a steady food supply for generations to come, it is imperative to improve on water management practices.

Almost half of Pakistan’s total electricity generation comes from expensive thermal energy sources and this means electricity prices have become unaffordable, according to the country’s 2013 National Power Policy.

Agriculture tube wells can be operated directly from solar panels as no batteries are required to store the energy   farmers can recover costs within three to four years by saving on diesel and electricity bills.   But few farmers can afford the initial investment. Around 85% of farmers have less than ten hectares of land and they cannot afford agriculture inputs like seed, fertilizers and pesticides, let alone the installation of solar water pumps to irrigate their land Government subsidies would help. The government should consider giving   50% subsidy on installation of solar tube wells to small growers,”  

Progress

The use of solar-powered tube wells has great potential for minimizing the cost of irrigation and for making agriculture efficient and environment friendly.

Since the 2010-11 fiscal year, when agriculture (along with other departments) became a completely provincial subject after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, provincial governments have been trying to help farmers switch over to solar-powered tube wells. But progress in this regard has been slower than anticipated. One major reason is perhaps the use of subsidies instead of programs to raise awareness and to help create a domestic market.

 
Encouraging banks to lend money to farmers for installing solar-powered tube wells a few years back was a right step in the right direction. But then banks prefer operating in an organized market and seldom agree on becoming part of an evolving market. Therefore, prioritized lending areas remain neglected even after repeated reminders by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The SBP`s revised scheme for renewable energy introduced in June 2016 is a case in point. Under that scheme, the scope of bank lending for renewable energy projects was extended to smaller projects for generating up to one megawatt of electricity. That came as a ray for hope for the installation of solar-powered tube wells on a mass scale. But it still remains a dream.

In September 2016 USAID, the American agency for development aid, also signed an agreement with five Pakistani banks namely HBL, MCB Bank, Faysal Bank, Meezan Bank and JS Bank to help them lend for clean energy projects under an $88m project.These banks rolled out schemes for clean energy financing, including loans for solar-powered tube wells. But individual farmers still complain about the difficulties in obtaining loans.

Bankers claim that in most cases applicants don`t fulfill the paperwork requirements, which makes it difficult for banks to approve loans. However, small and medium sized companies that import and install solar panels are getting loans from banks.There are over two dozen such companies active in business. But only a few suppliers of solar panels for tube wells in subsidized schemes in Punjab and elsewhere are thriving, industry sources say.

The Punjab government has been providing farmers with solar-powered tube wells on 80 per cent subsidy since 2013-14. Besides, it has also been working, with the help of foreign funding, to replace conventional tube wells with those that run on solar power.The Sindh government is also pursuing similar plans. It is already working on 11 separate schemes to install solar-powered tube wells and pumping stations at a cost of Rs7.8bn. Of this, Rs2.6bn has already been utilized,  However, despite efforts by provincial governments and big individual landlords, the pace of progress to promote solar-powered tube wells remains slow. Moreover, there`s no data showing the number of such tube wells currently in operation.

Provincial authorities collect and report the number of tube wells and the Ministry of National Food Security and Research presents consolidated data on the basis of those numbers. However, until 2014-15 (the last year for which data is available), solar-powered tube wells were not shown separately. One reason for not collecting separate data may be that they constitute a tiny percentage of the total.

At the end of 2014-15, an estimated 1.3m tube wells were in operation, up from 1m in 2011-12. Media reports suggest that only a few thousand among them were solar-powered. The latest move to replace 30,000 conventional tube-wells in Baluchistan to solar powered ones can boost the number of such tube-wells in the short run. But authorities must also start maintaining exclusive data on solar-powered tube wells for effective policymaking and market development  

Large-scale farmers are installing new solar tube wells on their farmlands but small-scale farmers cannot afford the cost of around Rs 1.5 million private banks could finance the installation of the solar powered water pumps as they finance seeds, fertilizers and pesticides.

Working of Solar Water Pumps:

A typical solar water pumping system consists of three components:

·         Solar cells

·         Inverter

·         Pump

Solar cells are made of thin sheets of silicon or another semiconductor which capture the sun’s rays to convert them to direct current electricity. Through wiring, the DC power goes to the controller where it is converted into AC electricity and is further transmitted to the pump. The pump utilizes this electricity to bring the underground water to the surface, which is then distributed according to the configuration of the irrigation system.

A solar-powered water system is made of two basic parts. The solar electric modules are the power house. The electricity from the panels goes to the motor and pump, which send the water through the pipe to where you want it. Many solar-powered water systems pump the water into a large holding tank. This reserves storage supplies during cloudy weather or at night. Solar modules are usually installed on special ground or pole mounting structures. For more output, modules are installed on a tracker - a mounting structure that follows the sun like a sunflower. The sketch presented above presents the outlines of each component.

Advantages of Solar Water Pumps:

Pakistan is among countries that have sun which warms throughout the year, Pakistan therefore has a strong solar potential. Over 95% of the Area of the country has radiations of 5-7 kWh/s m –day. Solar water pumps are an excellent investment, and their benefits appear in the following way:

·         Zero operational cost and minimal maintenance cost

·         Environment-friendly mechanism; no noise pollution and zero emissions of carbon dioxide

·         High reliability and maximum durability

·         Energy independence

·         No requirement of fuel

·         Irrigation is made possible even on difficult terrains where conventional system of irrigation is not accessible

Conclusions

Rapidly decreasing solar costs presents an opportunity to planners and decision makers to implement a country wide program that will address a number of problems. Use of solar for irrigation tube wells will: reduce cost of pumping to farmers; reduce import of fossil fuels; will reduce dependence upon imported sources of energy; will enable the achievement of objective of use of indigenous sources of energy; will be efficient and will reduce waste of energy; diversify the energy sector and will add to the share of renewable in the energy mix, it will also assist in eradication of circular debt that is crippling the energy and power sector, .