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Solar-based groundwater pumping for irrigation: Sustainability, policies, and limitations

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Title Solar-based groundwater pumping for irrigation: Sustainability, policies, and limitations
 
Creator Closas, Alvar
Rap., E.
 
Subject solar energy
energy generation
groundwater
groundwater
pumping
sustainability
irrigation systems
agriculture
food security
food production
farmers
living standards
subsidies
water resources
irrigated farming
 
Description The increasing demand for solar-powered irrigation systems in agriculture has spurred a race for projects as it potentially offers a cost-effective and sustainable energy solution to off-grid farmers while helping food production and sustaining livelihoods. As a result, countries such as Morocco and Yemen have been promoting this technology for farmers and national plans with variable finance and subsidy schemes like in India have been put forward. By focusing on the application of solar photovoltaic (PV) pumping systems in groundwater-fed agriculture, this paper highlights the need to further study the impacts, opportunities and limitations of this technology within the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus. It shows how most policies and projects promoting solar-based groundwater pumping for irrigation through subsidies and other incentives overlook the real financial and economic costs of this solution as well as the availability of water resources and the potential negative impacts on the environment caused by groundwater over-abstraction. There is a need to monitor groundwater abstraction, targeting subsidies and improving the knowledge and monitoring of resource use. Failing to address these issues could lead to further groundwater depletion, which could threaten the sustainability of this technology and dependent livelihoods in the future.
 
Date 2017-05-25T04:46:49Z
2017-05-25T04:46:49Z
2017
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Closas, Alvar; Rap. E. 2017. Solar-based groundwater pumping for irrigation: Sustainability, policies, and limitations. 5p. (Online first) doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.01.035
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/81201
 
Language en
 
Format 5p. (Online first)
 
Source Energy Policy