India cannot address its water and energy economy without addressing agrarian distress and finding non-agriculture income options. Connecting the solar irrigation pumps to the grid to sell surplus electricity provides an additional source of income for the farmer which has been amply demonstrated by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) through a pilot project in Dhundi (Solar Power as a Remunerative Crop- SPaRC) and NDDB’s solar cooperative in Majkuva (Gujarat).
In a recent pilot launched by Punjab (Pani Bachao, Paisa Kamao with which authors are closely associated) farmers have demonstrated a saving of about 30 per cent due to day time power supply and ability to optimise use of water.