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SPRINGER BRIEFS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Julian Sagebiel
Christian Kimmich
Malte Müller
Markus Hanisch
Vivek Gilani

Enhancing Energy
Efficiency in
Irrigation
A Socio-Technical
Approach in South India
With a Foreword by
Prof. Dr. R.C. Agrawal

123
SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science
SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science present concise summaries of cutting-edge
research and practical applications across a wide spectrum of environmental fields,
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More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8868

Julian Sagebiel · Christian Kimmich
Malte Müller · Markus Hanisch · Vivek Gilani

Enhancing Energy Efficiency

in Irrigation
A Socio-Technical Approach in South India

With a Foreword by Prof. Dr. R.C. Agrawal

13
Julian Sagebiel Markus Hanisch
Institute for Ecological Economy Research Institute of Agricultural
Berlin and Horticultural Sciences
Germany Humboldt University of Berlin
Berlin
Christian Kimmich Germany
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest,
Snow and Landscape Research Vivek Gilani
Birmensdorf cBalance Pvt. Ltd.
Switzerland Pune, Maharashtra
India
Malte Müller
Institute of Agricultural
and Horticultural Sciences
Humboldt University of Berlin
Berlin
Germany

Additional material to this book can be downloaded from http://extras.springer.com.

ISSN 2191-5547 ISSN 2191-5555 (electronic)

SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science
ISBN 978-3-319-22514-2 ISBN 978-3-319-22515-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-22515-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015947105

Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London

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Foreword

This work deals with the very timely theme of enhancing energy efficiency in irri-
gation, exemplified by a pilot project in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India.
Notwithstanding its declining contribution to the national gross domestic prod-
uct, a natural corollary to the development process, the agricultural sector in India
is still crucial to the all-round development of the nation. The sector currently
employs nearly half of the population and has a critical role to play in the attain-
ment of the national goals of increasing food security and reducing rural poverty.
The temporal growth pattern of the Indian economy in the last decades bears out
the direct and significant relationship to the state of agriculture today.
In the last fifty years, Indian agriculture has made tremendous progress, initi-
ated by what is commonly known as the Green Revolution. Food production rose
from 82 million tons in 1960–1961 to an estimated 263.2 million tons in 2013–
2014. The Green Revolution was primarily characterized by employment of a
package of practices—seeds, fertilizer, irrigation, and plant protection measures—
to be supported by strong institutions. Irrigation occupied a pivotal role among
these mainsprings of production growth, enabling the cultivation of two or more
crops per year from the same piece of land. Due to huge investments in irriga-
tion, the irrigated area in India now exceeds 63 million hectares, the largest of any
country in the world.
However, the Indian irrigation system is highly inefficient. According to
the Agricultural Outlook 2014–2023, jointly published by the United Nations
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Food and
Agriculture Organization (OECD-FAO), “India has one of the world’s largest irri-
gation systems but it also faces high levels of inefficiency, particularly for those
relying on surface water sources, the efficiency for which is estimated at 35–40
%, as opposed to ground sources, whose efficiency is estimated at 65–75 %. More
serious is the problem of groundwater depletion, which is viewed to be in crisis
as a result of excess extraction, due in part to the lack of regulated use and power
subsidies which lower extraction costs”.
The use of electrically powered irrigation pumpsets in India is increasing at a
brisk pace of about half a million per year. More than 19.17 million pumpsets had

v
vi Foreword

been installed in India by the end of November 2014, with the figures for 1999
and 2009 being 12 million and 16 million, respectively. With increasing use of
pumpsets, energy consumption for irrigation has also increased rapidly, growing
at a compound rate of about 7 % between 2006 and 2012. India imports nearly a
third of its total energy needs, with the government’s Twelfth Plan estimating that
it would need to import 29 % of its energy by 2016–2017, increasing to 31 % by
2021–2022, thereby putting heavy pressure on the national balance of payments.
Oil subsidies put an additional burden—amounting to 0.8–1.1 % of the national
gross domestic product in Fiscal Year 2013–2014—on the national exchequer.
Thanks to factors like abominable infrastructure, weak institutions, poor plan-
ning and implementation of projects, introduction of agricultural measures with-
out adequately involving farmers, inappropriate equipment, and high subsidies,
energy use in Indian agriculture is utterly suboptimal today. The average efficiency
of pumpsets is estimated to be barely 30–35 %. However, through achievement of
a stable electricity supply and more efficient pumping, the input of electricity for
five-horsepower pumpsets could be reduced by up to 40 %.
The recent decline in global oil prices has somewhat eased the pressure on
energy import costs for India, yet there is no room for complacency, and the
necessity of enhancing efficiency in the use of energy and irrigation water is even
greater, especially when climatic consequences are also taken into account.
This SpringerBrief seeks to make a valuable contribution in this direction
through presenting the methods and results for a pilot project conducted in the
Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The design of the project is conspicuous by its
incorporation and examination of the relationships between social, institutional,
and technical variables. In observing that some social problems encountered dur-
ing the project would not have occurred if certain technical problems had been
absent and that these technical problems were able to be absorbed with proper
social implementation, the necessity of intense and long-term relationships among
various stakeholders for enhancing energy efficiency is highlighted. This rein-
forces the significance of one of the hitherto well-known but rather less-appreci-
ated ingredients for the success of a development project: all stakeholders must
be active participants throughout all of its phases and must also be made to feel
involved in it.
Though the findings presented here relate to the state of Andhra Pradesh in
India, the lessons have wider relevance. Farmers do not want cheap, subsidized,
or free energy which is unreliable. They rather prefer to pay more for a timely,
trustworthy, and stable energy supply. This would be a win–win situation for all
stakeholders involved.

Berlin Prof. Ramesh C. Agrawal

Preface

In 2008, the German Ministry of Education and Research launched the Future
Megacities program, the aim of which was to identify scope for improvement in
energy efficiency and climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies for rap-
idly growing megacities expected to reach a population size of ten million inhabit-
ants within the next five years. Hyderabad, the capital of India’s fifth largest state
Andhra Pradesh,1 was selected as one of these cities, with Humboldt-Universität
zu Berlin, together with German and Indian partners, leading the project there.
One focus, which became the theme of this SpringerBrief, was dedicated to chal-
lenges facing the power sector in Andhra Pradesh. As the agricultural electricity
sector in Andhra Pradesh consumes about 30 % of total end-use in the state, it
ends up playing a critical role for the urban electrical energy supply there.
Consequently, the project consortium initiated a research agenda exploring possi-
bilities for increasing energy efficiency in agriculture. Based on the findings from
extensive field research, a pilot project was developed, the aim of which was, first,
to understand existing agricultural electrical energy supply problems directly, from
practice, and, second, to provide low-cost solutions which can be implemented
independently of external funding. The relationship between social, institutional,
and technical factors played a key role in the design of the project. Within the pilot
project, about 800 shunt capacitors were installed to agricultural pumpsets used
for irrigation in areas of rural Andhra Pradesh. Thirty farmer committees were
formed, consisting of all farmers who participated in the project. The results were
positive overall. Technically, an improvement of the power factor, an indicator of
power supply quality, by about 16 % was measured, and field observations
revealed an increased interest of farmers in the technology as well as regarding
other aspects of irrigation and electricity. However, it was also realized that a nar-
rowly technical approach can easily lead to failure, and intensive work with farm-
ers is, in the end, a strong prerequisite for successful implementation. In practical

1
On 2 June 2014, Andhra Pradesh was divided into two states, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
As the pilot project ended in 2013, we will only consider the former state Andhra Pradesh in the
SpringerBrief.

vii
viii Preface

terms, severe problems with the capacitors occurred just after installation due to
various reasons, including faulty maintenance and high-voltage fluctuations within
the power system. This turn of events tested the robustness of the project in terms
of social trust in the face of technical failures. It turned out that in villages, where
the hold of the project was not strong, the project failed. Yet, in other villages,
where more trust-building work had taken place, replacement of the failed equip-
ment led to increased confidence among the farmers. All things considered, signif-
icant improvements can be achieved from upscaling the project. Assuming that all
major electrically operated agricultural pumpset motors in Andhra Pradesh were to
be equipped with a capacitor, overall energy savings could amount to 1,337 GWh
per year, which would be equivalent to 1,216,623 tons of carbon dioxide equiva-
lents emissions.
This SpringerBrief provides a comprehensive overview of the above-outlined
project, including detailed description and analysis of how it was carried out.
Background information on the power sector in India and Andhra Pradesh is also
given, focussing on the special case of agricultural electricity supply and discuss-
ing strategies to improve it.

Project Background

The pilot project described here—Implementing Cooperative and Technical

Solutions to Increase Energy Efficiency in Irrigation—was part of a research pro-
ject on sustainable development in future megacities called Climate and Energy
in a Complex Transition Process towards Sustainable Hyderabad: Mitigation and
Adaptation Strategies by Changing Institutions, Governance Structures, Lifestyles
and Consumption Patterns (hereafter, Sustainable Hyderabad). The Sustainable
Hyderabad project was financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education
and Research and consisted of the following German and Indian research institu-
tions as its main partners: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; the Potsdam Institute
for Climate Impact Research; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; the nexus
Institute for Cooperation Management and Interdisciplinary Research; and
PTV Traffic Mobility Logistics AG, from the German side, and The Energy and
Resources Institute, Delhi; Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad;
Osmania University, Hyderabad; International Crops Research Institute for the
Semi-Arid-Tropics; and the National Institute of Technology, Warangal, from
the Indian side. Additionally, each partner worked together with local bodies in
Hyderabad, including ministries, governmental organizations, NGOs, other
research institutes, and private consultants.
The Sustainable Hyderabad project’s time frame ran between November 2008
and June 2013, focussed on different aspects of sustainable city development,
including energy, water, transportation, food, health, and pollution. These top-
ics were subgrouped into work packages and handled by the respective partners,
each conducting their research from 2009 to 2011, including surveys, case studies,
Preface ix

expert interviews, and theoretical calculations. The results of this initial work were
used to initiate eight pilot projects from 2011 onwards, three of them in the energy
sector. The Sustainable Hyderabad project came to an end in June 2013, issuing a
Perspective Action Plan giving policy recommendations towards a more sustain-
able Hyderabad. A detailed description of the Sustainable Hyderabad project and
additional information are available at www.sustainable-hyderabad.de.

Structure and Intention

This SpringerBrief outlines relevant aspects of the pilot project Implementing

Cooperative and Technical Solutions to Increase Energy Efficiency in Irrigation in
order to provide a basis for further discussion and implementation of such inter-
ventions. The overall aim of the project was to identify solutions for partly solv-
ing agricultural energy and water problems in Andhra Pradesh. The Sustainable
Hyderabad project’s research is focused on climate change adaptation and mitiga-
tion strategies, which the initiatives undertaken in the pilot project used as a pri-
mary guideline for implementation.
Here, the structure of this SpringerBrief will be summarized so as to guide
readers on how best to read and understand it according to their interests. The
SpringerBrief is divided into two main parts. Part I: Background deals with top-
ics that are necessary for understanding the rationale of the pilot project, while
also providing relevant information for readers who are not interested in the pilot
project itself but want to acquire an understanding of topical issues in agricultural
power supply, including solution strategies. Part II: Pilot Project presumes famili-
arity with the contents of Part I and explains the pilot project in detail. Readers
who are already familiar with agricultural electrical energy supply in India, how-
ever, can start there directly.
Looking in more detail at the contents of this SpringerBrief, the first chapter
introduces some basic concepts of power supply in India and briefly explains the
persisting dilemma of low electrical energy quality for agriculture there. Chapter 2
provides information on the development of the power sector in particular Andhra
Pradesh and India more generally, summarizing its current status with an emphasis
on agricultural power supply and discussing the implications for farmers and other
stakeholders of its flat-rate electricity tariff. Chapter 3 discusses strategies that can
help reduce the power supply problem in this context. Section 3.1 summarizes
recently completed and ongoing projects that have sought to improve the power
supply for agricultural use in India. The Bureau for Energy Efficiency has, for
example, initiated several large-scale projects which involve replacement of agri-
cultural motors and initiation of high-voltage distribution systems. Apart from this,
there have been smaller projects initiated by NGOs or universities trying to focus
on farmers’ involvement in managing power distribution. One example is the Lok
Satta project, which established transformer committees for farmers in Andhra
Pradesh. Section 3.2 discusses available options for improving farmers’ supply
x Preface

situation, distinguishing between low- and high-cost solutions as well examining

the interrelations between technical solutions and institutional requirements. We
thereby draw a line between projects that aim to replace inefficient equipment, for
example agricultural pumpsets, and projects that aim to improve the system with
minor, but affordable technologies, even for farmers. Smaller solutions are more
interlinked with the current institutional set-up than larger solutions and related
technological changes, and a holistic approach demands the incorporation of tech-
nical and institutional solutions. Chapter 4 introduces some technical background
information, explaining the Indian system of generation, transmission and distri-
bution as well as the pumpsets, motors and capacitors in agricultural power sup-
ply there. This is important for gaining an understanding of some of the technical
specifics that were part of the whole project’s rationale. It is not necessary to be
an electrical engineer to understand this chapter, as it is aimed to provide simple
explanations reduced to the necessary facts and results. Readers who are aware of
these basics can, however, skip the chapter.
Chapter 5 introduces Part II. Chapter 6 is perhaps the most important chapter
in the entire document, as it gives an overview of all relevant topics required to
understand the pilot project. First, the partners comprising the project team and the
region where the project took place are introduced. Then, the stakeholders’ aims,
rationale, and technical and social approaches employed are explained and dis-
cussed. The technical and social approaches are discussed separately, though the
project worked under the assumption that only a combination of both approaches
could lead to project success. Chapter 7 summarizes the different steps in the
project in chronological order, split into three phases: preparation and planning,
implementation, and evaluation. The preparation and planning phase was used for
undertaking intensive research in the project region in order to develop the o­ verall
concept and to select the technology, specific electrical feeders, and ­ farming
­villages for the intervention. After having set up a detailed project plan, the imple-
mentation phase was initiated. This phase included awareness-raising meetings
for farmers, installation of capacitors, and the establishing of farmer committees;
we report on the conducting of this phase and discuss problems that arose dur-
ing it. The evaluation phase primarily consisted of the measurement of technical
­parameters and was already initiated during the implementation phase. Different
evaluation methods are compared, and the main hurdles encountered during evalua-
tion are discussed here. The results of the evaluation are then discussed in Chap. 8,
where we present the key performance indicators of the capacitors and use the
resulting data for a marginal abatement cost analysis to compare the cost-effective-
ness of the chosen solution in terms of carbon dioxide emissions with other avail-
able technologies, such as efficient motors and solar water pumpsets. Apart from
the technical results, we briefly discuss some observations from the field, includ-
ing what did and did not work. Finally, based on the results, Chap. 9 discusses the
upscaling potential of the project, distinguishing between regional and technical
upscaling and providing some ideas for a business model.
Finally, the last chapter summarizes the project and provides an outlook for fur-
ther projects and research.
Preface xi

Work for the pilot project was complemented by several masters’ and doctoral
degree research investigations, some of the results of which have already been
published in international journals and books. Throughout the text, the reader will
find boxes summarizing some results of this research.

Relevance of this SpringerBrief to Other Areas and Contexts

In many countries, dependence on groundwater irrigation for agriculture is grow-

ing, while water and energy resources are becoming scarcer. Reasons for these
tendencies are manifold and, in the context of climate change, irrigation is often
considered as an adaptation measure, enabling farmers to be more independ-
ent of extreme heat waves, periods of no rain, and unpredictable weather events.
But irrigation comes at the cost of increased usage of ground or canal water and
energy resources, which are often not abundantly available either. Conditional on
the institutional setting, energy in the form of diesel or electricity are the main
inputs to power irrigation pumpsets. In Andhra Pradesh, one of the largest Indian
states and the subject of this pilot project, groundwater irrigation is highly sup-
ported by local institutions, most obviously through the decade-old “free power
to farmers” policy. As explained later in this SpringerBrief, such policies have
created several dilemma situations or low-level equilibrium traps, where farmers,
distribution companies, and the state as the cost bearer suffer from poor-quality
electrical energy supply, high maintenance costs, and subsidy payments, respec-
tively (Kimmich 2013). However, despite the very unique institutional situation,
the problems farmers face in Andhra Pradesh are not very different to other states
in India and many other agrarian countries. In particular in countries of the Global
South, lack of financial capabilities, such as credits for suitable irrigation infra-
structure, and social conflicts arising through the common pool resource charac-
teristics of irrigation, similar problems as those in Andhra Pradesh, are observable.
Researchers from various disciplines—including economics, the social sciences,
and engineering—have conducted extensive research, providing a large range of
possible solutions, including less resource-intensive technologies, incentive-based
mechanisms, and collective action initiatives.
The concepts applied in the pilot project focussed on here have been adapted to
the special conditions in Andhra Pradesh, yet many of its implications are gener-
ally valid. One main feature of the project was the formation of farmer commit-
tees to solve problems collectively. As the actions of farmers are interdependent,
the behaviour of one farmer has effects on the outcomes of neighbouring ones.
In our case, the unit of dependency was the distribution transformer, providing
electrical energy to many farmers. Consequently, through inappropriate usage or
over-pumping of water, one farmer can adversely affect the outcomes of others
who are connected to the same transformer. Hence, we sought to find out whether
managing groundwater pumping as a group could help towards overcoming such
xii Preface

problems. During the pilot project, it became evident that farmers were able to col-
lectively manage their distribution transformers and subsequent distribution sys-
tems in ways that are likely applicable to a variety of other contexts, even beyond
agriculture and irrigation, as many kinds of development projects can be supported
by collective action approaches. The key lessons learned from this project are,
thus, not context-specific but rather valid everywhere where resources have pub-
lic good characteristics. The pilot project itself relied on general results regarding
collective action derived from various studies and experiments (see for example
Ostrom 1990, 2005; Ostrom et al. 1994), thus benefitting from and then contribut-
ing towards further development of this field of inquiry.
The pilot project was focused on increasing energy efficiency. A simple tech-
nology, so-called shunt capacitors, was selected and installed into agricultural
motors. The reasons for choosing capacitors instead of a broad range of other,
perhaps more effective, solutions can be found in the specific conditions of agri-
cultural power supply in Andhra Pradesh. In other areas, different technologies
may suit the existing conditions better. Still, some important insights from using
this particular technology may be valid for more general contexts, in that the pro-
ject demonstrates the difficulties that can arise when introducing a new technol-
ogy. Initial reluctance of stakeholders, lack of trust, and problems that arose due to
technology failure are issues of a general nature, and the lessons learned from this
project can be regarded as a guide to other projects aimed at working at the grass-
roots level on implementation of technological solutions.
The research community may also benefit from the pilot project’s results.
Although observations from applied projects sometimes lack scientific rig-
our, insights relevant to the behavioural sciences and the disciplinary interface
between the natural and social sciences can be drawn from them. During the dif-
ferent phases of the project, complementary research was also being conducted,
the results of which have provided insights regarding common behavioural pat-
terns. For example, a framed field experiment was conducted with farmers, the
aim of which was to better understand why cooperation sometimes fails, even if it
promises better outcomes for all farmers. The research results from these investi-
gations are currently being prepared for publication or are already published. This
SpringerBrief provides an overview of the research conducted within the project
and its main results.
To conclude, one thing has become obvious to those involved in the project:
Projects aimed at enhancing development through new technologies need to seri-
ously take into consideration the social dimensions of technological change and
adaptation. This SpringerBrief seeks to demonstrate the validity of this assumption
with reference to the pilot project’s environment but with the intention of offering
insights that may be relevant for many other contexts. The authors hope that read-
ers can learn from the successes and failures of this project and use its findings to
better design their own future projects.
Preface xiii

References

Kimmich C (2013) Linking action situations: coordination, conflicts, and evolution in elec-
tricity provision for irrigation in Andhra Pradesh, India. Ecol Econ 90:150–158.
doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.03.017
Ostrom E (1990) Governing the commons: the evolution of institutions for collective action.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Ostrom E (2005) Understanding institutional diversity. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Ostrom E, Gardner R, Walker J (1994) Rules, games, and common pool resources. The
University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor
Acknowledgments

This project would not have been possible without continuous support from local
partners and stakeholders. We are more than grateful to Philip N. Kumar, who sup-
ported the project nearly from the beginning, visited the field regularly, talked with
the farmers, resolved social conflicts, and made sure that the project would not
stop at any point along the way. Likewise, we gratefully acknowledge the con-
tributions of Vineet Goyal, Subash and Hari Krishna from Steinbeis, India, who
made sure that the technical implementation ran smoothly. We especially thank
Rama Mohan and Sreekumar, who advised the project in different phases and
were always ready to listen to and comment on the project’s progress. The techni-
cal realization in the field owes large thanks to Naveen, Tirupati, Illiah, and Ranjit,
who installed, re-installed, de-installed, repaired, and maintained about 1200
capacitors. Bashkar, J. Mahesh, Maheshjee, Venkatesh, Kiran, and Nagraj guaran-
teed the social dimension of the project by forming 30 farmer groups. They never
tired of going to the villages, talking with the farmers, organizing meetings, and
making sure the team was always updated on the most recent developments. We
further thank Krishna Reddy and Professor T.L. Sankar from the Administrative
Staff College of India, who supported the project in Phase II with field visits
and long discussions; Amit Jain and his team from the International Institute for
Information Technology, Hyderabad, for their inputs; Dr. Ramesh Chennamaneni,
who provided accommodation in Vemulavada; and the managing directors of
CESS Sircilla, who supported the pilot capacitor installation.
We are grateful to Franziska Köhler, Kerstin Maas, and Marco Pompe, master’s
students who conducted their research within the project. Thanks also goes to Jens
Rommel who critically commented on the project and frequently helped out in
conducting research for it. We also thank Reinhold Wilhelm for assisting with the
coordination from Germany, making sure that institutional hurdles were overcome.
We are greatly indebted to Dr. Amit Garg of IIM, Ahmadabad, for his guidance
and continuous supervision, for lending his expertise throughout the duration of
the project, and, crucially, his efforts at the completion stage. We would also like
to extend our gratitude and thanks to industry experts Gyan Prakash and Nimit

xv
xvi Acknowledgments

Khungar, members of cBalance Solutions Pvt. Ltd., for their kind co-operation
during the fieldwork, providing all the necessary support for project analysis and,
last but not least, providing encouragement to all team members to complete this
project. Special thanks goes to Marcus Mangeot and Casjen Ennen, who made a
video documentary on the Sustainable Hyderabad project, for their great enthu-
siasm as well as for their ability to provide us with some diversion from the eve-
ryday life of the project. We are grateful to Christopher Hank for several hours of
proof reading and Maximilian Kanig for creating a map.
Lastly, we would like to thank all farmers involved, who patiently listened
in various meetings to the project team and enabled the realization of the entire
project.
This pilot project has been conducted within the Sustainable Hyderabad pro-
ject, financed under the Future Megacities programme of the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research (Grand Number: FKZ 01LG0506A1), from
which we gratefully acknowledge generous financial support. We are also grateful
to all readers who want to make use of our experiences, and we would be pleased
to share project materials such as questionnaires and instructions when desired.
Contents

Part I Background

1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2 Background of the Agricultural Power Supply Situation

in India and Andhra Pradesh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1 History of the Indian Power Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Structure of the Power Sector in India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3 The Vicious Circle of Agricultural Power Supply. . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3 Strategies and Existing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3.1 Recent and Ongoing Projects in India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1.1 Public and State-Level Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.1.2 Foreign Development Cooperation Projects . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1.3 Research and Development Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1.4 Community-Driven Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.1.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.2 Discussion of Various Implementation Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.2.1 Low-Cost Versus High-Cost Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.2.2 Technical Solutions and Institutional Requirements. . . . 26
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

4 Technical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.2 Electricity Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.2.1 Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.2.2 Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.2.3 Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

xvii
xviii Contents

4.3 Agricultural Pumpsets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.4 Power Factor and Capacitors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Part II Pilot Project

5 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

6 Project Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6.1 Partners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6.2 Pilot Project Region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
6.3 Aims and Stakeholders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
6.4 Technical Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.5 Social Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

7 Project Steps in Detail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

7.1 Preparation and Planning Phase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
7.1.1 Rationale for Choice of Intervention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
7.1.2 Selection of Feeders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.1.3 Social Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.1.4 Technical Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
7.2 Implementation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.2.1 Initial Capacitor Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
7.2.2 Farmer Awareness-Raising Meetings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
7.2.3 Capacitor Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
7.2.4 Establishing Farmer Committees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
7.2.5 Cooperation with CESS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
7.2.6 Major Issues of Phase I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
7.3 Evaluation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.3.1 Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.3.2 Technical Evaluation Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

8 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
8.1 Evaluation Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
8.1.1 Pumpset and DTR Measurement Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
8.1.2 Marginal Abatement Cost Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
8.2 Observations from the Field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
8.2.1 Social Implementation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
8.2.2 Technical Implementation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Contents xix

9 Upscaling Potential. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
9.1 Regional Upscaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
9.2 Technical Upscaling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
9.3 Business Models for Upscaling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
9.4 Political Upscaling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

10 Conclusions and Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Appendix I: Technical Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Appendix II: Technical Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Appendix III: DTRC Constitution and Minutes of Meetings. . . . . . . . . . . 105

Appendix IV: Letter of Agreement to Join DTRC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

About the Authors

Julian Sagebiel is an economist specializing in international economics and doing

research at the Division of Economics of Agricultural Cooperatives at Humboldt-
Universität zu Berlin. Currently, he is conducting Ph.D. research on consumer pref-
erences in the electricity sector, focusing on India and Germany. Since 2013, he has
also been working as a researcher at the Institute for Ecological Economy Research
in Berlin, where he focuses on valuation of ecosystem services and sustainable land
management. julian.sagebiel@hu-berlin.de; julian.sagebiel@ioew.de
Christian Kimmich is an agricultural engineer and economist working as a
postdoc at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research
WSL. Previously, he had been a researcher at the Division of Resource Econom-
ics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where he worked on the regional gov-
ernance of energetic biomass utilization, food versus fuel conflicts, and broader
issues of ecological macroeconomics. He was a visiting scholar at the Ostrom
Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University and at
the Center for Environmental Policy and Behavior at the University of California,
Davis. christian.kimmich@wsl.ch
Malte Müller is an agricultural economist, Ph.D. candidate, and research assistant at
the Division of Economics of Agricultural Cooperatives at Humboldt-Universität zu
Berlin, Germany. His academic interest lies in the contribution of agricultural cooper-
atives to rural development and poverty reduction, as viewed within a broader context
of development economics and cooperation. In collaboration with different research
institutes, he investigates local phenomena related to cooperation and collective ac-
tion in the field, with a focus on developing countries. malte.mueller@hu-berlin.de
Markus Hanisch is an agricultural economist with a background in institutional
and resource economics. He is head of the Division of Economics of Agricultural
Cooperatives at the Department of Agricultural Economics of Humboldt-Univer-
sität zu Berlin. His research interest combines approaches to political theory and
institutional economics with cooperative studies. He is currently participating in
or leading several research projects in close collaboration with national and

xxi
xxii About the Authors

international research foundations and financiers, such as the German Federal

Ministry of Education and Research or the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
He belongs to the group of Affiliated Faculty at the Vincent and Elinor Ostrom
Workshops for Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University and
works on several editorial boards. As a senior lecturer, he gives the course “Coop-
eration and Cooperative Organizations” within the EU-funded International Master
of Science in Rural Development (IMRD) program. markus.hanisch@hu-berlin.de
Vivek Gilani is an Ashoka Fellow with an MS in Environmental Engineering
from the University of Massachusetts. He has consulting expertise in the field of
water and wastewater treatment design and analysis and has been certified as an
energy auditor by the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency. In 2008, he co-founded
the India-specific carbon footprint calculation and minimization body at no2co2.
in. He is also the founder and director of cBalance Solutions Hub. Most recently,
he co-founded The Green Signal—the first eco-labelling body in India—along with
the Indian Institute for Management at Ahmedabad and the Center for Innovation
Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE). vivek@cbalance.in
All authors contributed to the pilot project presented in this SpringerBrief on im-
proving agricultural electricity provision in India, within the German Ministry of
Education and Research funded Emerging Megacity program. Julian Sagebiel coor-
dinated the pilot project from 2011 to 2013. Christian Kimmich conducted his Ph.D.
research on the sustainable provision of electricity for irrigation in agriculture from
the perspective of evolutionary and institutional economics and game theory, pro-
viding the theoretical foundation for the pilot project. He accompanied the project
throughout its duration. Malte Müller conducted the research for his master’s thesis
as part of the pilot project and coordinated the project between 2012 and 2013.
Markus Hanisch was the initiator and head of the pilot project. Vivek Gilani was
responsible for technical evaluation.
 Part I
Background
Chapter 1
Introduction

Abstract This chapter introduces the contents of Part I of this SpringerBrief

and highlights the vicious circle of agricultural power supply problems in India.
The chapter starts with an introduction to the power sector in India, and Andhra
Pradesh in particular, discussing its major challenges. Then, a brief overview of
the agricultural power supply situation is given, followed by a short description
of possible remedies to the currently existing low-equilibrium trap of low-quality
power supply for irrigation.

Keywords India · Power sector · Agricultural power supply · Andhra Pradesh ·

Irrigation

A healthy power sector is often regarded as a key requirement for economic

growth and foreign direct investment. Full electrification can act as a powerful
tool for improving the livelihoods of the poor and a means to hinder rural–urban
migration. India’s power sector is one of the largest in the world and, over the last
twenty years, has gone through major reform processes. In Andhra Pradesh, such
reforms were initiated in 1991 as a response to a financial crisis at that time, dur-
ing which the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board, the state-owned electricity
provider, was running losses of about 1 % of the state’s gross domestic product
(GDP). In 2003, the Electricity Act was released by the Government of India,
which provided guidelines for the way forward in the power sector, especially the
promotion of renewable energies and a tariff system based on costs (Ministry of
Law and Justice 2003; Ranganathan 2004). Additionally, the Ministry of Power
established the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and respective state nodal agencies
in 2002. In 2008, the Government of India released the National Action Plan for
Climate Change, including the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency.
Still, not all of the measures laid out there have materialised, and a large propor-
tion of the country’s consumers continue to face tremendous problems with their
power supply. The least-resilient consumers are the rural population and farmers,
with an electrical energy consumption of more than 30 % of the Andhra Pradesh

© The Author(s) 2016 3

J. Sagebiel et al., Enhancing Energy Efficiency in Irrigation,
SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-22515-9_1
4 1 Introduction

total. The poor conditions of the transmission and distribution grid there fre-
quently lead to high rates of motor burnout in agricultural pumpsets. Unbranded
and locally manufactured pumpsets, in combination with unqualified repairs,
decrease energy efficiency and further deteriorate overall power quality (Kimmich
2013).
It is widely understood that power supply for agriculture in India plays an
important role in current political debates. Agriculture is still considered to form
India’s economic backbone, generating incomes for about 70 % of the population
and contributing to key political aims such as food security. Consequently, politi-
cians continuously promise farmers favourable policies to gain votes (Shah 2009).
Since 2004, farmers in Andhra Pradesh have received power on a flat-rate basis,
leading to a situation where incentives to invest in better equipment are distorted,
for both farmers and utilities, as farmers overuse the infrastructure and utilities
reduce their investments in it. This phenomenon can be described as a vicious cir-
cle of deteriorating power quality, leading to losses for utilities and reduced farm
output (Kimmich 2013). Taking this logic further, adverse effects with regard to
food security, groundwater overuse, and urban migration are becoming obvious.
Manifold strategies promoted by various stakeholders have been developed to
overcome this vicious circle, but the reality seems to remain unchanged.
Part I (from this chapter to Chap. 4) of this SpringerBrief outlines the main
concepts of the power sector in Andhra Pradesh and India, provides an overview
of its history and current status, and explains the situation of farmers in the context
of their increased dependence on groundwater for irrigation and, hence, their need
for a more reliable power supply.
In order to fully understand the situation of agricultural power supply in India,
and Andhra Pradesh in particular, it is important to examine the development of
the power sector since independence and the reasons behind the still-ongoing
reform processes. Until the early 1990s, the power sector was completely gov-
ernment-controlled. Each state operated through a State Electricity Board that
was responsible for generation, transmission and distribution. For several rea-
sons, most State Electricity Boards became financially unhealthy already in the
1950s and were not capable of providing sufficient power in terms of either qual-
ity or quantity (Tongia 2007). Triggered by the Green Revolution in the 1960s,
electric groundwater pumping became popular (Shah 2009). Since then, the State
Electricity Boards have been increasingly burdened by excess power demand from
farmers and, as tariffs have not been cost-covering, unable to maintain sufficient
investment in infrastructure. As a consequence, power quality decreased over time,
which has led to the vicious circle described above. Even now, in most states in
India revenues from agricultural power supply are marginal or even negative, and
utilities are not capable of providing sufficient infrastructure. This historical devel-
opment is explained in more detail in Chap. 2.
To understand why it has been so difficult to escape the vicious circle, one
needs to investigate previous attempts to break it. Most important have been gov-
ernment interventions. In 2006, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency defined standards
1 Introduction 5

for pumpsets1 and initiated several demand side management (DSM) programs,
and state governments undertook efforts to improve the electric infrastructure in
rural areas by, for example, introducing high voltage distribution systems, which
reduce line losses and impede theft. Foreign donors like the United States Agency
for International Development (USAID) started projects to train utility staff or to
introduce new energy-efficient technologies (USAID 2011). Although many pro-
jects have achieved noticeable improvements, the overall goal of sufficient power
for agriculture has not been attained. Neither, in many cases, no upscaling has
taken place. Chapter 3 reviews these projects and then lists and discusses selected
technical intervention options, including high voltage distribution system and
small-scale technologies such as capacitors or energy-efficient pumpsets. It is
important to distinguish between high-cost and low-cost interventions. High-cost
interventions need to be initiated from above, meaning by the state government,
and have to be implemented on larger scales. Meanwhile, low-cost interventions
can be carried out on smaller scales, and farmers are able to participate in both
their design and implementation. One advantage of the former is that no interac-
tion with a local population is required and local conditions do not influence out-
comes very much. However, there are interventions that can only be realised with
farmer participation. Examples include learning the correct usage of pumpsets or
implementing less water-intensive cropping patterns. The merits and demerits of
high- and low-cost interventions are discussed in Sect. 3.2.
Finally, in order to understand the scope of the problem in India, one needs to
grasp the interrelations between technical solutions and institutional requirements.
Institutional approaches inherently require behavioural change. For example, train-
ing sessions with farmers can create greater awareness of water scarcity, which
may, in turn, lead to more water preservation through adoption of other irrigation
methods. In many cases, technical solutions only work when their institutional
requirements are incorporated into the whole concept of change. The implications
of this connection between institutions and technical solutions are discussed in the
last part of Chap. 3. Chapter 4, meanwhile, complements the preceding chapters
by explaining relevant technical details of the stages of the electricity process—
from generation through distribution—as well the functioning of pumpsets, motors
and capacitors.

References

Kimmich C (2013) Networks of coordination and conflict: governing electricity transactions for
irrigation in South India. PhD Dissertation, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Shaker, Aachen
Ministry of Law and Justice (2003) The Electricity Act 2003. New Delhi
Ranganathan V (2004) Electricity Act 2003—moving to a competitive environment. Economic
and Political Weekly 2001–2005

1http://bee-dsm.in/PoliciesRegulations_1_4.aspx.
6 1 Introduction

Shah T (2009) Taming the anarchy: groundwater governance in South Asia. Resources for the
Future and International Water Management Institute, Washington and D.C. and Colombo and
Sri Lanka
Tongia R (2007) The political economy of Indian power sector reforms. In: Victor DG, Heller TC
(eds) The political economy of power sector reform. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
pp 109–174
USAID (2011) Evaluation of DRUM and WENEXA, http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pdacr528.pdf
Chapter 2
Background of the Agricultural Power
Supply Situation in India and Andhra
Pradesh

Abstract In this chapter, we discuss the power supply situation in India and
Andhra Pradesh, beginning with a brief historical outline and then describing the
current state and structure of the power sector, including its main challenges. We
focus on agricultural power supply, exemplifying its major issues and discussing
the existing low-equilibrium trap of power quality.

Keywords Power sector · South asia · Agricultural power supply · Irrigation ·

Low-equilibrium trap

2.1 History of the Indian Power Sector

Since independence in 1947, the power sector in India has been virtually con-
trolled by the Government of India, which created State Electricity Boards that
were responsible for the complete supply chain of power, including generation,
transmission, and distribution. The reasons for this centralisation, based on social-
ist ideology, included no-monopoly instincts (profits were reinvested, fair-labour
policy, no mark-up prices), economics of scale, control over price structure and the
interconnection of State Electricity Boards to enhance system reliability (Tongia
2007). However, the State Electricity Boards turned out to be unprofitable and
inefficient and, thus, required high subsidies from the Government of India and
state governments to survive. The major reform process started in 1991 with a new
government and an upcoming fiscal crisis. By then, the state deficit had reached
11 % of national GDP and, in order to maintain a growth rate of 8 %, high infra-
structural investments were required, especially in the power sector.1 It had
become clear that there was hardly any scope for the Government of India to
invest sufficient amounts by itself. Therefore, with help from the World Bank, it
started to open the power sector to private and foreign investment. This, however,

1A general rule, which the Government of India was aware of, states that for a 1 % increase of
economic growth a 1.5 % growth rate in the power sector is needed.

© The Author(s) 2016 7

J. Sagebiel et al., Enhancing Energy Efficiency in Irrigation,
SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-22515-9_2
8 2 Background of the Agricultural Power Supply Situation …

did not mean the introduction of a competitive market. Rather, private investors
faced restrictions but were guaranteed a 16 % rate of return, risk reduction and
other benefits provided by the Government of India (Pani et al. 2007). Yet, many
of the pursued investors stayed away at that time, and the projects that had been
established often failed or led to even higher losses than the State Electricity
Boards had before them. In the end, the private investment strategy turned out to
be very expensive for the Government of India.
During the mid-1990s, the Government of India introduced further structural
reforms (second stage of reform process), allowing the states to independently
restructure their power sectors. State Electricity Regulation Commissions (SERCs)
with a high degree of autonomy and responsibility (e.g., to set tariffs, resolve dis-
putes, and monitor quality) were established, and the states started to unbundle
their State Electricity Boards.2 Andhra Pradesh, in the early 1990s unbundled with
hardly any privatisation and is currently considered to be one of the leading states
in terms of power generation and distribution (Sreekumar et al. 2007).
The third stage of the reform process was concerned with coordination and
consolidation. The Government of India published the Electricity Act 2003 and
established incentives for good performance, including ranking of states, com-
petition among them, and rewards for the most efficient ones (Ministry of Law
and Justice 2003; Ranganathan 2004). Another focus was directed towards the
public with, for example, media campaigns like “power for all” being introduced.
Additionally, the SERCs were asked to introduce full metering and to make sure
their subsidies were paid back in time. Efficiency was also a target of the act. The
Government of India had already established the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in
2002 and introduced new standards for efficiency. Further, private investors were
encouraged to invest in a variety of sectors (Swain 2007).
But there has been strong opposition to such reforms, because power is
regarded as a social good and many experts have feared that further privatisation
would lead to higher electricity prices and limited access to energy for rural popu-
lations. In 2000, around 57 %, or 399 million, of the rural households and 12 %
(84 million) of the urban households in India did not have access to electricity.
By 2011, these numbers had decreased to 33 % for rural households and 6 % for
urban households. In total, however, there were still 306 million Indians without
access to electricity (World Energy Outlook 2013).

2.2 Structure of the Power Sector in India

Power is mainly generated by state-owned generation corporations (GENCOs) and

few private companies. In Andhra Pradesh, for example, private generation con-
tributes to 18 % of total production (Sreekumar et al. 2007).

2In this context, unbundling means that each stage of generation, transmission and distribution is

carried out by a separate, independent company.

2.2 Structure of the Power Sector in India 9

Fig. 2.1  The structure of the power sector in India

Transmission is provided by state-owned transmission corporations

(TRANSCOs) on a high-tension basis to substations or directly to large electricity
consumers such as the cement industry (Fig. 2.1).
At the substations, distribution companies, which are also state-owned in many
states, take over, reduce the tension and distribute the electrical energy to distribu-
tion transformers (DTR), which finally forward it to consumers. In some states,
private companies are allowed to conduct the final distribution. In Andhra Pradesh,
this is not yet possible, but in some areas of Andhra Pradesh co-operative societies
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