1.
Case 1: Agricultural systems
transformation through renewable
energy policy interventions
Dr Alan Nicol
Sustainable Growth Program Lead, International
Water Management Institute (IWMI)

2.
A Policy Challenge
• 15 million irrigation grid-
connections; diesel pumps
• Reduce subsidies
• + renewable energy
• + ‘new crop diversification’
• Tackle over abstraction

3.
SPARC: An example from India
• ‘Solar Power as a Remunerative
Crop’ (IWMI-Tata)
• Consumers and producers
• Doubling income (surrendering
right to subsidized energy)
• Tariff ‘bonuses’ (nudging action)
• 2016 – first ‘solar pump
irrigators cooperative
enterprise’ (SPICE)
– Power into the grid / PPA
– Nine solar pumps produced 106k
kWh of energy, (25% for
irrigation / 75% into the grid)
– National recognition

4.
Policy change and options
• Rather than subsidize solar,
support PPA (win-win)
• Better option to reduce perverse
incentives to over-pump
• [similar ways of reducing damage
to ecosystem services?]
• Weaning off grid power, reducing
carbon footprint
• New forms of collective action
• Empowering farmers…
• Examining gender-power relations

5.
Beyond India…
Donor Where What
Innovation
laboratory for
small scale
irrigation
USAID Ghana,
Ethiopia,
(Nepal)
Upscaling of solar with
private sector through
piloting of business models
Technologies for
African
Agricultural
Transformation
African
Devt
Bank
Nigeria,
Sudan, Mali,
Burkina
Faso,
Ethiopia
Demonstration of irrigation
packages for staple crops
Online tool for
sustainable
upscaling of
solar irrigation
BMZ Sub-
Saharan
Africa
Solar suitability mapping
and online database on
water abstraction through
solar
Solar irrigation
database
WLE Ethiopia,
Ghana,
India
Geospatial database on
farmer led irrigation
initiatives by donors/NGOs
with a specific emphasis on
gender and with a focus on
solar technologies

6.
Business modelling for sustainability
Schmitter P. et al. (2018).Otoo, M., et al. 2018, IWMI Research Report 172)

7.
Videos for further info
• SPaRC’ing a Revolution:
– https://youtu.be/LOnhwuOnWLg
• The Promise of Dhundi Solar Irrigators
Cooperative Enterprise:
– https://youtu.be/SneJ3plzz5I

8.
Thank you!