Ms. Athira will present her APS as per the detail below:

Date: 9th February 2023

Time: 17:00 - 18:30 hrs.

Venue: CTARA Conference Room No. 1

Title: Electricity distribution system planning and community management approaches to improve supply on agricultural feeders while factoring  in agro-climatic conditions

Supervisor: Prof. Priya Jadhav

RPC members(s): Prof. Parmeshwar Udmale, Prof Narendra Shiradkar

Abstract:

The water-energy-food nexus (WEFN) approach is instrumental in development planning to meet the increasing demand for resources while ensuring overall sustainability. Within this, the area of energized irrigation plays a major role in ensuring food security in India for its growing population. But the current status in many parts of India is such that poor quality and unreliable electricity supply disrupt irrigation and result in decreased farmer yields.

In this study, we show the importance of connecting electricity distribution infrastructure design to irrigation requirements. The study is conducted in the regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada a region with a high concentration of vulnerable farmers. In these rainfed regions, protective irrigation can lead to large yield differences. Climate change also continues to increase the dependency on irrigation. In such cases, the energy requirement is low but can lead to major gains. However, the infrastructure cost per connection is quite high.

Current agricultural electricity distribution design does not take into consideration the irrigation requirements and irrigation patterns of farmers. The study quantifies the diversity in loading as per the seasonality of irrigation requirements based on cropping in a village/area.  Farmer practices, daytime and nighttime loading, and usage of drip and sprinkler, are some of the factors that interact to affect infrastructure requirements.