Challenges

South Asia faces a critical challenge at the intersection of water, energy, food and environment, primarily driven by climate change. Resilience of agriculture and communities has been severely impacted leading to unsustainable use of constrained groundwater resources. Simultaneously, agriculture is a major source of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Groundwater pumping alone contributes 8-10% of the region’s total emissions. Renewable energy, particularly solar irrigation, presents a promising solution as evidenced by explicit national commitments and schemes targeting solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) in South Asia. However, significant constraints remain on the large-scale adoption of SIPs across countries to achieve water security, and questions remain on the actual impacts of solar on groundwater resources, land-use changes, livelihoods, GESI and emission reductions.

Toward a Solution

Solar Energy for Agricultural Resilience (SoLAR) is a successful multi-country program funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Launched in 2019 across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, the program focused on generating robust evidence-based knowledge to support decision makers in SIP policy development, targeted subsidy design, and innovative adoption and financing tools for informed decision-making and implementation.

The identified outcomes are:

• Generating improved empirical evidence to support the development of climate-resilient, gender-equitable, socially inclusive, and groundwater-responsive solar irrigation policies
• Validating innovative actions and approaches
• Increasing national and global knowledge and capacity for solar irrigation policies and practices

Through its impacts on water food energy environment and livelihoods, the program aligns with several SDGs, including Goals 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 13.

Through effective program design that promotes science policy interface and in-country partnerships, the project has built a strong and multifaceted regional evidence base while developing and implementing contextually suited SIP policies, accounting for regional diversity in the socio-economic context, institutional capacities, bioclimatic conditions, and local and national SIP policies in South Asia.

Initiatives included the promotion of gender-sensitive policies and financial models to ensure equitable access to SIPs for women farmers and marginalized groups through use of micro-SIPs and training programs. Additionally, micro-financing, grant-based investments, and the First Loan Default Guarantee (FLDG) were introduced to enhance the accessibility of SIPs and reduce financial barriers for smallholder farmers. The program also launched a regional innovation fund grant supporting a number of technical and financial scalable innovations and ways which solar energy can be used for agriculture beyond SIPs., for example solar powered greenhouses, dryers, sensors and control systems, and electric vehicles.

In India, the program conducted an assessment of PM-KUSUM (in the state of Rajasthan)– India’s flagship solar irrigation program aimed at around 3.5 million farmers – and identified access gaps for women, small and marginal farmers. Recommendations will be shared with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to inform the next phase of the program development. Partnerships with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) further strengthened policy advocacy and resulted in MOUs and training and deployment of extension agents to support uptake of solar irrigation. In Bangladesh, pilot learnings assisted our partner, the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), with support from KfW, integrating grid connectivity into Small Investment Projects financing. A total of 56 new SIPs were approved, 39 of which will be grid-connected. In Nepal, using recommendations from the work, the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) is revising subsidies to prioritize women and small farmers. Nepal’s first grid-connected SIP pilot was launched through a net-metering agreement with the Nepal Electricity Authority. Collaborations with Gham Power and SunBridge are helping to shape scalable business models for both hilly and Terai regions. In Pakistan, web-based tools for solar suitability mapping and pump sizing were developed across three provinces which has received the support of local governments. These tools further evidence-based planning, and the team is advocating for feed-in tariffs to promote grid-connected SIPs.

Cross-country learning has been instrumental, and the project is fostering regional knowledge integration. This has been done through knowledge forums and facilitating exchange visits for officials between countries.?National forums were held in regular intervals in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal with participation from key government and non-government stakeholders. The forums outlined key project findings and identified opportunities for solar irrigation going forward. A three-day Global Forum in Nepal brought together over 200 key stakeholders from across 20 countries to discuss the growing body of work and evidence in South Asia on solar, promote south-south collaboration. This has fostered strong regional connections with key partners to co-create knowledge, react to policy demand and create spaces for discussions around solar irrigation.?A small pilot in Bhutan was also supported through these cross-country collaborations.

Overall, in alignment with several SDGs, SIPs were piloted, validated, as multi-purpose vehicles for achieving food and livelihood security, sustainable groundwater management, climate adaptation, and carbon mitigation, with a strong GESI focus on women entrepreneurs and smallholders. Using effective science communication, the project built the technical and social capacity of policymakers, local governments, technicians, and farmers. Triangular cooperation has been established through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) as a donor. These lessons learnt are now being transferred to East Africa, where a phase 2 of the program is set to launch.