- Nearly half of irrigation costs in Bangladesh are due to irrigation, and the diesel pumps that currently power irrigation networks are responsible for 1.6% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
- To address both issues, the government is rolling out a nationwide program to gradually replace these diesel pumps with solar-powered ones, aiming to slash irrigation-related emissions by 0.8 million metric tons by 2030.
- It also says that given that irrigation use is concentrated in the non-monsoon months, the surplus energy generated by the pumps the rest of the time can be fed into the grid, providing up to 480 gigawatt-hours of clean energy a year.
- In pilot programs, however, farmers have expressed concern over the reliability of the solar pump systems, especially for water-intensive crops such as rice and corn, and have also noted that their irrigation costs remain the same.
Bangladesh plans to phase out diesel-powered irrigation pumps for solar ones to cut carbon emissions, but the country’s farmers have expressed concern about the availability of power during bad weather and the uncertainty of costs.
The initiative is touted as ensuring the South Asian country will generate an additional 480 gigawatt-hours of clean energy annually, and is part of the government’s commitments to cut emissions under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Diesel-run irrigation pumps account for about 1.6% of Bangladesh’s total greenhouse gas emissions; the government has a goal of cutting 0.8 million tons of emissions by 2030 from irrigation more broadly.
Several solar irrigation pilot programs have gone underway in recent years across Bangladesh, administered by the Infrastructure Development Company (IDCOL). The NGO has installed 2,226 solar irrigation pumps in different parts of the country, involving private sector companies. From there, farmers receive irrigation water at a fixed cost based on season and area.
Cutting costs and boosting clean energy share
The government has also come up with a road map for phasing out diesel-run irrigation options, including the technical and financial requirements and benefits. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has contributed $42.4 million to support the transition, which will see some 45,000 solar irrigation pump (SIP) systems replace 200,000 diesel pumps. The new pumps will serve about 400,000 hectares (nearly 1 million acres) of farmland managed by more than 1.3 million farmers.
To fully realize the goals of the road map, the government might need to assemble a group of donors, including the ADB, to generate some $800 million in grants and loans, according to Saber Hossain Chowdhury, the minister of environment and climate change.
Siddique Jubair, a former member of the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA), called the transition an appropriate and sustainable solution that also reduces the dependence on imported diesel. Under the plan, the government touts an annual reduction in diesel consumption of 300,000 metric tons, and avoided emissions of 900,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent. It’s also expected to cut costs for farmers; irrigation currently accounts for 43% of total agricultural costs, according to the ADB.
And because much of the need for pumped irrigation occurs outside the monsoon season, from December to May, the surplus energy generated by the solar pumps can be fed into the grid, providing up to 480 GWh annually, or almost 1% of Bangladesh’s current total electricity generation, Chowdhury said.
Early problems being identified
Beyond the touted benefits, however, the rollout of the solar pumps has run into some problems, with farmers complaining that the pumps often fail to provide the necessary irrigation during bad weather and at night.
Masud Rana, a farmer in Jhenaidah district in southwestern Bangladesh, farms a 1.2-hectare (3-acre) plot that’s part of the pilot scheme. He grows rice and corn, crops that require frequent watering.
“But we can’t get water on time as the pumps can’t run during nighttime or even hazy days,” he told Mongabay.
To provide the necessary water to the crops, he and other farmers often have to go back to using diesel-run pumps or electric-powered tube wells. The cost of irrigating his field is the same in either case, Rana said.
Jubair acknowledged there would be problems in the early adoption of the solar pumps, and said that farmers would still be able to use diesel-run pumps in emergencies. The government isn’t banning these immediately, he emphasized, but creating the infrastructure to ensure that the solar-run irrigation system works nationwide.
Banner image: Electric irrigation pump in a paddy field in Chuadanga, Bangladesh. Image by Muhammad Mostafigur Rahman.
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