UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The September episode of the "Growing Impact" podcast features a team of researchers investigating a government policy that increases solar-powered irrigation pumps in India. As a part of the research, the team is exploring how the use of solar irrigation pumps may impact India’s highly exploited groundwater reserves and the country’s food and energy production.

The team includes Daniel Brent, an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education; Michael Jacobson, a professor in the Department of Ecosystem Management; Praharsh Patel, a doctoral student in the Energy and Environmental Economics Program; Christopher Scott, the Maurice K. Goddard Chair of Forestry and Environmental Conservation and professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management; and Emily Pakhtigian, an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy. The title of the project is “Analyzing the Adoption of Solar Irrigation Pumps in India within the Food-Energy-Water Nexus: Implications for Carbon, Groundwater Depletion, and Agricultural Productivity.” 

According to Patel, the groundwater in India is a major source of irrigation and one of the most exploited resources in the country. In some regions, groundwater levels are dropping more than 10 feet annually. Additionally, India is the number one consumer of groundwater in the world, more than the United States and China combined. A World Bank report stated if this trend continues, more than half of India’s aquifers will be in peril by 2030. 

“We're looking at this policy that focuses on providing solar irrigation to farmers, and we're interested in what the potential implications would be for groundwater,” Brent said. “The solar panels can reduce carbon and provide more stable electricity for irrigation, but we were concerned about perhaps some of the unintended consequences in terms of groundwater depletion.” 

Bringing solar irrigation pumps to India has several benefits. 

“Many countries are trying to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, and solar panels provide independent energy sources,” Jacobson said. “Then we have to think about the other benefits, not just the greenhouse gases, including agricultural production, energy savings and hopefully more efficient water use.” 

The policy incentivizes water conservation by allowing farmers who are connected to India’s electrical grid to sell surplus energy that they produce back to the grid, but that too is impacting the policy’s original intent. 

“I have seen a few farmers who are willing to leave agriculture aside to just produce solar energy,” Patel said. “Whereas the whole point of this policy was to promote solar irrigation so that even the not-so-well-off farmers can also reap financial benefits in case they can't produce agriculture due to drought or some other climate disaster.” 

The team is also exploring hinderances to adoption of the policy among famers. In rural India, they include financial barriers, technical expertise and availability of replacement parts for the solar irrigation pumps. 

While this policy aims to solve a challenge at the heart of the food-energy-water nexus, it raises questions about the future. 

“This is a bigger question about meeting climate goals and dealing with food security,” Jacobson said. “We need to be thinking about population growth. India is going to be the largest population country in the world, overtaking China by mid-century. How are we going to feed these people?” 

"Growing Impact" is a podcast by the Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE). It features Penn State researchers who have been awarded IEE seed grants and discusses their foundational work as they further their projects. The podcast is available on multiple platforms, including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Spotify.