Mapping Policy for Solar Irrigation Across the Water– Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus in India

The report examines the drivers and impacts of off-grid solar pump deployment in India, highlighting how low recurring costs can lead to groundwater over-extraction. It maps policies across the water-energy-food nexus, finding that while solar support is strong, groundwater management is relatively under-resourced and often lacks formal integration with energy and food policies.

• The high up-front cost of off-grid solar pumps is a major barrier to adoption, with costs estimated at 5–15 times those of diesel equivalents, although they are cheaper over a 10-year period.
• Conventional energy subsidies, particularly for electricity, create a financial environment where solar pumps struggle to compete and incentivize unsustainable groundwater extraction.
• The KUSUM scheme, approved in February 2019, aims to deploy 1.75 million stand-alone off-grid solar pumps and 1 million solarized grid-connected pumps with a proposed central contribution of nearly INR 35,000 crore.
• Off-grid solar pumps risk increasing groundwater stress because their extremely low recurring costs remove the economic incentive to use water conservatively.
• Many Indian policies fail to formally recognize the interlinkages of the water-energy-food nexus, as they are managed by ministries with narrow sectoral mandates.
• In Rajasthan, the Solar Pumps Subsidy Scheme successfully integrated water efficiency by requiring farmers to use drip irrigation to be eligible for subsidies.
• Agricultural price interventions, such as the Minimum Support Price (MSP), may inadvertently promote the cultivation of water-intensive crops like rice and sugarcane.
• Groundwater over-extraction in India is linked to declining water quality, including high levels of fluoride, iron, salinity, nitrate, and arsenic across various districts.
• The report identifies a lack of rigorous empirical studies on the social distribution of subsidies and the specific impacts of solar pumps on groundwater extraction and cropping decisions.

APA

Beaton, C., Jain, P., Govindan, M., Garg, V., Murali, R., Roy, D., Bassi, A., & Pallaske, G. (2019). Mapping Policy for Solar Irrigation Across the Water– Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus in India. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/solar-irrigation-across-wef-nexus-india.pdf

Chicago

Beaton, Christopher, Purva Jain, Mini Govindan, Vibhuti Garg, Rashmi Murali, Dimple Roy, Andrea Bassi, and Georg Pallaske. Mapping Policy for Solar Irrigation Across the Water– Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus in India. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2019. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/solar-irrigation-across-wef-nexus-india.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Beaton |first1=Christopher |last2=Jain |first2=Purva |last3=Govindan |first3=Mini |last4=Garg |first4=Vibhuti |last5=Murali |first5=Rashmi |last6=Roy |first6=Dimple |last7=Bassi |first7=Andrea |last8=Pallaske |first8=Georg |title=Mapping Policy for Solar Irrigation Across the Water– Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus in India |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=August 2019 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/solar-irrigation-across-wef-nexus-india.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{beaton2019mapping, author = {Beaton, Christopher and Jain, Purva and Govindan, Mini and Garg, Vibhuti and Murali, Rashmi and Roy, Dimple and Bassi, Andrea and Pallaske, Georg}, title = {{Mapping Policy for Solar Irrigation Across the Water– Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus in India}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2019}, month = aug, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/solar-irrigation-across-wef-nexus-india.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }