India: A Large-scale Solar Park on Drought-prone Agricultural Land

The Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka, India, utilized a land-leasing model to secure 13,000 acres for a 2,000 MW facility, providing stable income to 2,300 landowners while avoiding the bureaucratic delays of land purchase. Despite contributing to national renewable energy targets, the project has faced significant challenges, including insufficient water planning for panel cleaning in a drought-prone region, a failure to deliver promised local employment and social infrastructure, and the marginalization of non-land-owning pastoralists.

• The Pavagada Solar Park implemented a land-leasing model instead of land acquisition, allowing 2,300 agricultural landowners to retain ownership while receiving a yearly rent of INR 21,000 ($313) per acre, with a 5% increase every two years.
• The project has struggled with severe water shortages because it is located in a region that has experienced 54 declared droughts in 60 years, yet requires between 14,000 and 40,000 kilolitres of water per wash for its panels.
• Expected local economic benefits were largely unmet; while the project was approved on the premise of creating 8,000 jobs, most positions were filled by migrant workers or consisted of precarious contractual roles like site watchmen.
• The project negatively impacted non-land-owning residents, specifically pastoralists who lost access to land previously used as a commons for grazing livestock, as they were not recognized as stakeholders in the lease agreements.
• There are ongoing concerns regarding the long-term viability of the land, including potential soil degradation caused by panels blocking sunlight and the future risk of soil contamination from solar waste disposal.

APA

World Resources Institute (2021). India: A Large-scale Solar Park on Drought-prone Agricultural Land. https://www.wri.org/snapshots/india-large-scale-solar-park-drought-prone-agricultural-land

Chicago

World Resources Institute. India: A Large-scale Solar Park on Drought-prone Agricultural Land. 2021. https://www.wri.org/snapshots/india-large-scale-solar-park-drought-prone-agricultural-land.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=India: A Large-scale Solar Park on Drought-prone Agricultural Land |date=1 April 2021 |url=https://www.wri.org/snapshots/india-large-scale-solar-park-drought-prone-agricultural-land |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2021india, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{India: A Large-scale Solar Park on Drought-prone Agricultural Land}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2021}, month = apr, url = {https://www.wri.org/snapshots/india-large-scale-solar-park-drought-prone-agricultural-land}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }