Optimum sizing of SPV powered irrigation systems based on field conditions a case study of riverbed pumpsets

Abstract

India is a country of 6,38,000 villages and more than 70% of Indias population is newlineinvolved in agriculture and allied businesses Small and subsistence farmers are entirely dependent on variable rainfall groundwater and river flows for irrigation There are an estimated 21 million irrigation pumps in India out of which over 9 million run on diesel and 12 million on electricity grid Electricity consumption by irrigation alone accounts for 15-20% of Indias total consumption On other hand to serve required crop water within available time farmers install multiple pumps of excessive pump capacities which leads to cascade the excessive demand on grid Indian power industry has total generation capacity of 307 GW and still faces the peak shortage between 10-14% To meet peak demand load shedding in rural areas has resulted in limited power supply of 4-6 hours/day newline newline