Agri-Renewables: A Double Engine to India’s Growth Story

The Indo-German Energy Forum (IGEF) and the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) jointly hosted a session on 2 December on “Agri-Renewables: A Double Engine to India’s Growth Story”. The topic of this session is attributed to the rising demand for food-energy-water security in India, caused by rapid urbanisation, rising global population, and economic growth. The way we generate energy, produce food, and use water, substantially form major challenges of this century, considering the Agricultural sector consumed 17.67% of electricity in the year 2019-2020. Hence, in the ongoing energy transition, renewable energy plays an important role. The deployment of advanced renewable energy solutions must be targeting food-energy-water security, which makes it imperative to use the same piece of land for electricity generation, food production and saving water losses. The panel of the session discussed the way forward for Agri-Renewables in India’s journey to sustainable farming and energy. Speakers in the session included Ms. Ipsa Sweta Dhal, Fraunhofer ISE, Dr. Priyabrata Santra, CAZRI and Dr. P. M. Chauhan, Director of Research, Junagadh Agricultural University. Special focus was laid on topics such as the co-location of agriculture and renewables, the design and economics of agrivoltaic systems, government policies to promote Agriphotovoltaics, as well as, ongoing projects and challenges.

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