TECHNO-ECONOMICS

OF RENEWABLE ENERGY UTILIZATION

IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE SECTOR

by

PALLAV PUROHIT

Centre for Energy Studies

Thesis submitted

in fulfillment of the requirements

of the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY to the

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DELHI

NEW DELHI - 110016

FEBRUARY 2004

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CERTIFICATE

It is hereby certified that the thesis entitled "Techno-Economics of Renewable

Energy Utilization in Indian Agriculture Sector", which is being submitted

by Mr. Pallav Purohit, is entirely the result of his own efforts. The work was

carried out under my supervision and has not been accepted in substance or in

part of any degree/diploma and is not being concurrently submitted in

candidature for any other degree/diploma to any other university or institute.

Dr. Tara Chandra Kandpal

Professor

Centre for Energy Studies

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Hauz Khas, New Delhi — 110016 (INDIA)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is my great pleasure to express deep sense of gratitude to my thesis supervisor Dr. T. C. Kandpal, Professor, Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi not only for being the guiding force behind this work but for being much else-a guru, a friend, an elder brother...

I am also thankful to the Director, I.I.T. Delhi and Head, Centre for Energy studies, I.I.T. Delhi, for providing the necessary facilities in completing this work. The financial assistance in the form of fellowship and other facilities provided by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) New Delhi, and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) New Delhi are also to be duly acknowledged.

I am extremely grateful to Dr. S. S. Mathur and Dr. S. C. Mullick, Professors and former Heads, Centre for Energy Studies, Dr. (Mrs.) P. Mathur, Professor and former Head, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi for the much needed guidance and encouragement during the course of this work. I am extremely grateful to the reviewers of the thesis for their valuable comments towards improvement in the quality of the thesis.

I am extremely indebted to Dr. G. C. Joshi, Professor, Department of Physics, H. N. B. Garhwal University Srinagar (Uttaranchal), Dr. P. C. Maithani, Principal Scientific Officer, MNES and Dr. Subodh Kumar, Senior Scientific Officer-II, CES, IIT Delhi for their timely guidance and encouragement.

I am extremely thankful to Prof. Kirit Parikh, Chairman, Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe), New Delhi and Member, Planning Commission, Govt. of India and Prof. Jyoti Parikh, Executive Director, IRADe, New Delhi for their encouragement and moral support during the final phase of this work. My sincere thanks to Dr. B. D. Sharma, Senior Advisor, IRADe, New Delhi and fellow colleagues Dr. S. Mullick, Ms. Pallavi Maitra and Ms. Kavita Singh for their encouragement and willing support during the final phase of this work.

MV sincere thanks to our group members Mr. M. R. Nouni and Mr. P. C. Pant, Principal Scientific Officers, MNES, Ms. R. Uma, Fellow, TERI, Mr. B. Chandrasekar from EDCIL and Mr. A. Kumar from CES, IIT Delhi for many useful technical discussions during the completion of this work. Many thanks to Mr. 0. P. Chawla, and other members in our Solar Concentrator Laboratory for their timely help and cooperation.

I thank from the bottom of my heart to my research colleagues Dr. P. K. Bhardwaj, Mr. S. Bose, Mr. Rajesh Gupta, Dr. S. Rana, Dr. S. Diambi, Dr. J. Pandit, Dr. M. S. Bhandari, Dr. R. S. Adhikari, Dr. R. K. Tyagi and Dr. S. K. Tyagi for their timely help, cooperation and encouragement. I must thank to the people who have closely associated with me, among them are Mr. D. P. Benjwal, Mr. D. D. Devshali, Mr. P. C. Budhakoti, Mr. U. C. Purohit, Mr. K. K. Pandey, Mr. S. Deoli and many more for their encouragement and willing support.

I am extremely thankful to my elder brother Dr. Gunjan Purohit and younger brother Mr. Ishan Purohit for making most of the good things that have happened in my life possible. I am extremely indebted to Dr. S. P. Purohit for his motivation, appreciation and support during the course of this work. Last but not least, I wish to thank my uncle's Dr. D. C. Purohit, Dr. K. C. Purohit and other members of my family for their encouragement, inspiration and support during the course of this work.

(Pallav Purohit)

ABSTRACT

Economic growth and the need to improve the quality of life necessitate use of increasing

amounts of energy for productive purposes. On the supply side, the limitations imposed by

the depleting reserves of fossil fuels are being faced by both the developed and developing

economies. The rural areas of developing countries are often worst affected by the

unavailability of appropriate energy supply at affordable prices. As a consequence, in most of

the developing countries, rural energy is primarily derived from unprocessed biomass

(fuelwood, agri-residues and animal dung), animal and human resources. Increasing the

availability of useful energy to the large masses in rural areas of developing countries is a

pressing challenge before their Governments. There is a general consensus on using

renewable energy resources as a sustainable alternative in these areas. These include

processed biofuels (biogas, producer gas, biomass briquettes), solar energy, wind energy and

micro hydropower etc. Improvement in the efficiencies of fuel utilization, would of course,

be an inseparable component of any such strategy to augment the existing rural energy

supply.

In view of the increasing interest in the development and dissemination of technologies for

harnessing new and renewable sources of energy in India, there have also been some efforts

towards their use in the agriculture sector. In spite of some success reported in the case of a

few renewable energy systems for other end use applications (such as domestic solar water

heating systems, biogas plants for domestic cooking, improved cookstoves, solar PV lighting

systems etc.) the cumulative number of renewable energy systems so far being used in the

agriculture sector are far below their respective potentials. The barriers to the dissemination

of renewable energy technologies in the agriculture sector include (a) unavailability of

appropriate renewable energy technologies, (b) unattractive financial implications of

investments in renewable energy systems, (c) lack of infrastructure to provide after-sales

backup, and (d) lack of adequate institutional support for the dissemination of renewable

energy technologies etc. Therefore, in order to develop and disseminate appropriate

renewable energy resource-technology combinations to meet the energy demand in

agriculture sector, it is necessary to undertake an in-depth evaluation of the various feasibility

aspects (resource availability, financial and economic viability, energetic feasibility, socio-

cultural acceptability, environmental sustainability and institutional preparedness) of each

resource-technology combination. While satisfaction of each of these feasibility aspects is

necessary for a large-scale sustainable dissemination of renewable energy technologies, in the

initial phase the financial viability is of direct relevance for motivating the users towards their

adoption. Financial analysis of renewable energy technologies is, however, quite involved as

the associated costs and benefits are not always clearly defined. The implications of size,

capacity, components, and/or design of the energy technology on its cost and benefit are not

fully understood and consequently are not explicitly incorporated in the financial evaluation

exercises. An attempt to develop simple frameworks to study the financial viability of

renewable energy technologies having large dissemination potential for irrigation water

pumping and solar crop drying has been made in the present work.

The agriculture sector is also a producer of potential feedstocks. Agricultural residues

obtained from crop production (after harvesting) as well as agri-processing residues (obtained

in post harvesting operations) are one of the promising biomass energy feedstocks available

in the country. In view of the increasing opportunity costs of agricultural residues it is no

longer appropriate to consider them as feedstocks available at zero private cost. Substantial

amount of work is available in the literature on the pricing of wood fuels and its dependence

on market conditions. However, for agriculture residues such procedures are not available. In

fact, the agricultural residues can have varying cost labels attached to them depending upon

their potential as fuel (and any other feedstock). An attempt has been made to estimate the

maximum acceptable monetary value of some of the important agricultural residues as

biofuels. These estimates of the agricultural residues can then be used in techno-economic

evaluation studies of renewable energy systems using agricultural residues as energy

feedstocks.

Direct burning of agricultural residues in domestic as well as industrial applications is very

inefficient. Moreover, transportation, storage and handling problems are also associated with

its use due to low bulk density. One of the approaches that has been pursued towards

improved and efficient utilization of agricultural and other biomass residues is their

densification in order to produce pellets or briquettes. The briquetting of biomass improves

its handling characteristics, increases the volumetric calorific value, reduces transportation

costs and makes it available for a variety of applications. These biomass briquettes can

substitute coal used in boiler applications particularly in places located at large distances

from coal pithead. However, a substantial amount of energy (in the form of electricity) is

required for briquetting of biomass. It is therefore necessary to compare the energy inputs in

briquetting with the energy required for coal transportation. An attempt has been made to

evaluate the energetic viability of biomass briquetting compared with the incremental energy

embodied in the transportation of coal from coal pithead to the end use location. The results

of this study can help in identifying broad niche areas for the use of biomass briquettes from

the perspective of energetics.

The use of renewable energy technologies may often lead to both tangible and intangible

benefits. While all the likely tangible benefits are normally taken into account in the financial

evaluation exercises, invariably the intangible benefits (such as environmental externalities,

iii

health benefits, employment generation, reduced oil import bill etc.) are not considered in the

analysis. Moreover, the results of financial evaluation studies are also affected by the market

imperfections and commercial energy price distortions etc. In the initial phase of

dissemination of renewable energy technologies it is critically important that the above

factors are also taken into account to facilitate a proper comparison of these technologies with

existing commercial energy based options. Such an economic analysis may provide the

much-needed support to some of the renewable energy technologies during the critical phase

of their evolution and dissemination. An attempt to study several aspects of the economics of

renewable energy technologies for irrigation water pumping have also been made in this

work with the objective of quantifying their costs and benefits to the society.

At the end, a preliminary attempt to estimate the primary energy supply potential of the four

renewable energy technologies for irrigation water pumping has also been made in the thesis.

It is found that even in 2025, the contribution these technologies to the primary energy supply

for irrigation water pumping is likely to less than 7%. An attempt to project future levels of

dissemination of the renewable energy technologies for irrigation water pumping have been

made alongwith estimation of the required amount of investment for this purpose.

iv

PREFACE

Introduction

Economic growth and the need to improve the quality of life necessitate use of increasing

amounts of energy for productive purposes. On the supply side, the limitations imposed by

the depleting reserves of fossil fuels are being faced by both the developed and developing

economies. The rural areas of developing countries are often worst affected by the

unavailability of appropriate energy supply at affordable prices. As a consequence, in most of

the developing countries, rural energy is primarily derived from unprocessed biomass

(fuelwood, agri-residues and animal dung), animal and human resources. Increasing the

availability of useful energy to the large masses in rural areas of developing countries is a

pressing challenge before their Governments. There is a general consensus on using

renewable energy resources as a sustainable alternative in these areas (Lawand et al., 1982;

Moulik et al., 1992; Jefferson, 1994; 1996; Grilbler et al., 1996; Lampinen et al., 1997;

Sayigh, 1999; Rintala et al., 2002). These include processed biofuels (biogas, producer gas,

biomass briquettes), solar energy, wind energy and micro hydropower etc. Improvement in

the efficiencies of fuel utilization, would of course, be an inseparable component of any such

strategy to augment the existing rural energy supply.

India accounted for 12.5% of total primary energy consumption in the Asia-Pacific region

and 3% of world primary energy consumption in 2000-01 (British Petroleum, 2001). The fuel

mix of commercial energy consumption in India varies significantly from sector to sector.

The share of gross value added from agriculture sector to total gross domestic product (GDP)

was 27% in 2000-01 (TERI, 2002). According to the 1991 census, 68% of the workforce was

employed in this sector (GOI, 1993). The average annual growth rate of agriculture sector

viii

was 3.6% during 1992-2000 (MOF, 2001). The foodgrain production has been projected to

increase from 199 million tonne (MT) in 1996-97 to 304 MT in 2011-12 to meet the

increased nutritional requirement due to population growth (TERI, 2000). With the cropping

area (in the country) more or less saturated the increase in foodgrain production is expected

essentially due to the adoption of modern agricultural practices. As a consequence, the

agricultural production activities in India have gradually become very energy intensive and

the prevailing trends indicate towards further increase in its energy intensity (Singh and

Chancellor, 1975; Singh and Miglani, 1976; Pathak and Singh, 1978; Pathak and Singh,

1980; Bhatia, 1985; Parikh, 1985; Pathak, 1985; Pathak and Bining, 1985; Pathak et al.,

1986; Parikh and Syed, 1988; Moulik et al., 1991; Painuly et al., 1995; Parikh and

Ramanathan, 1999). The total energy input to the Indian agriculture sector has increased from

about 242 PJ in 1951 to about 1302 PJ in 1995 with a compound growth rate of 3.9% per

annum. During this period, the energy use per hectare has gone up by 3.8 times (a compound

annual growth rate of 3.1%). The share of commercial energy has increased from 9% in 1951

to 70% in 1995 (Singh, 1997; Agarwal et al., 1998). Amongst the several end use activities in

the agriculture sector land preparation, irrigation water pumping and drying are most energy

intensive (TERI, 2002).

In view of the increasing interest in the development and dissemination of technologies for

harnessing new and renewable sources of energy in India, there have also been some efforts

towards their use in the agriculture sector (Bhatia, 1977; Kishore et al., 1986; Kishore and

Rastogi, 1987; Shyam et al., 1987a; Bhatia and Pereira, 1988; MNES, 2003; Kishore et al.,

2004). In spite of some success reported in the case of a few renewable energy systems for

other end use applications (such as domestic solar water heating systems, biogas plants for

domestic cooking, improved cookstoves, solar PV lighting systems etc.) the cumulative

number of renewable energy systems so far being used in the agriculture sector are far below

ix

their respective potentials (MNES, 2003). The barriers to the dissemination of renewable

energy technologies in the agriculture sector include (a) unavailability of appropriate

renewable energy technologies, (b) unattractive financial implications of investments in

renewable energy systems, (c) lack of infrastructure to provide after-sales backup, and (d)

lack of adequate institutional support for the dissemination of renewable energy technologies

etc. Therefore, in order to develop and disseminate appropriate renewable energy resource-

technology combinations to meet the energy demand in agriculture sector, it is necessary to

undertake an in-depth evaluation of the various feasibility aspects (resource availability,

financial and economic viability, energetic feasibility, socio-cultural acceptability,

environmental sustainability and institutional preparedness) of each resource-technology

combination. While satisfaction of each of these feasibility aspects is necessary for a large-

scale sustainable dissemination of renewable energy technologies, in the initial phase the

financial viability is of direct relevance for motivating the users towards their adoption.

Financial analysis of renewable energy technologies is, however, quite involved as the

associated costs and benefits are not always clearly defined (Kandpal and Garg, 2003). The

implications of size, capacity, components, and/or design of the energy technology on its cost

and benefit are not fully understood and consequently are not explicitly incorporated in the

financial evaluation exercises. In an attempt towards understanding some of the issues

involved in the financial feasibility evaluation of the use of renewable energy technologies in

the agriculture sector, techno-economic evaluation of several renewable energy technologies

potentially suitable for meeting the energy demand of irrigation water pumping and solar

crop drying has been made in this study. Irrigation and drying have been selected because of

(a) the increasing energy intensity of these activities, (b) the broad field experience with most

of the technologies addressed, and (c) the importance of these activities for rural

development.

The agriculture sector is also a producer of potential feedstocks (Parikh, 1985; Pathak et al.,

1986; Shyam et al., 1987b; Shyam and Gite, 1990; Reddy et al., 1999). Agricultural residues

obtained from crop production (after harvesting) as well as agri-processing residues (obtained

in post harvesting operations) are one of the promising biomass energy feedstocks available

in the country. In view of the increasing opportunity costs of agricultural residues it is no

longer appropriate to consider them as feedstocks available at zero private cost. Substantial

amount of work is available in the literature on the pricing of wood fuels and its dependence

on market conditions (Hillring, 1999a, 1999b; 2000; Roos et al., 2003). However, for

agriculture residues such procedures are not available. In fact, the agricultural residues can

have varying cost labels attached to them depending upon their potential as fuel (and any

other feedstock). An attempt has been made to estimate the maximum acceptable monetary

value of some of the important agricultural residues as biofuels. These estimates of the

agricultural residues can then be used in techno-economic evaluation studies of renewable

energy systems using agricultural residues as energy feedstocks.

Direct burning of agricultural residues in domestic as well as industrial applications is very

inefficient. Moreover, transportation, storage and handling problems are also associated with

its use due to low bulk density. One of the approaches that has been pursued towards

improved and efficient utilization of agricultural and other biomass residues is their

densification in order to produce pellets or briquettes. The briquetting of biomass improves

its handling characteristics, increases the volumetric calorific value, reduces transportation

costs and makes it available for a variety of applications. These biomass briquettes can

substitute coal used in boiler applications particularly in places located at large distances

from coal pithead. However, a substantial amount of energy (in the form of electricity) is

required for briquetting of biomass. It is therefore necessary to compare the energy inputs in

xi

briquetting with the energy required for coal transportation. In this study an attempt has been

made to evaluate the energetic viability of biomass briquetting compared with the

incremental energy embodied in the transportation of coal from coal pithead to the end use

location. The results of this study can help in identifying broad niche areas for the use of

biomass briquettes from the perspective of energetics.

In the last two decades significant efforts have been made to study the financial viability of

different renewable energy technologies for several end use applications such as domestic

cooking, lighting, power generation etc. (Sinha and Kandpal, 1991; Rubab and Kandpal,

1995a, 1996; Kapur et al. 1996, 1998; Kandpal and Garg, 2003). Detailed techno-economics

of renewable energy systems potentially useful for agriculture sector are, however, not

available. It is in this context that an attempt to develop simple frameworks to study the

financial viability of renewable energy technologies having large dissemination potential for

irrigation water pumping and solar crop drying has been made in the present work. A modest

attempt to internalize some of the technological parameters in the financial evaluation

framework has also been made in the present work for the case of biogas and producer gas

driven dual fuel engine pumps, solar photovoltaic (SPV) pumps and windmill pumps for

irrigation water pumping. Important design features of the respective technologies have been

taken into account while estimating both the costs and benefits.

Solar drying is one of the potential applications of solar energy in the agriculture sector

(Lawand, 1966; Lawand et al., 1975). However, the dissemination of solar dryers for agri-

produce drying faces severe competition from the largely prevalent practices of open sun

drying and also to a lesser extent from the use of locally available biofuels. Thus, in the

prevailing scenario the agri-produce drying applications based on fossil fuels appear to be the

xii

only niche area for solar drying systems. However, unless the solar drying systems offer

exceptionally attractive financial gains it may not be practically possible to enhance their

acceptance among the potential users.

In an attempt towards evaluating the financial attractiveness of solar dryers the present work

has focussed on two somewhat different situations — (i) replacing open sun drying by solar

drying and (ii) substitution/saving of fossil fuels or biofuels by solar dryers. The benefits

accrued to the investor arise from different quarters in the above two cases. In the case of

open sun drying being replaced by solar drying it is the reduction in the losses and the likely

improvement in the quality of the product leading to monetary benefits to the investor. On the

other hand, in the case of biofuel/fossil fuel substitution the monetary worth of the fuel(s)

saved decides the benefits of the solar dryer to the investor.

The use of renewable energy technologies may often lead to both tangible and intangible

benefits. While all the likely tangible benefits are normally taken into account in the financial

evaluation exercises, invariably the intangible benefits (such as environmental externalities,

health benefits, employment generation, reduced oil import bill etc.) are not considered in the

analysis. Moreover, the results of financial evaluation studies are also affected by the market

imperfections and commercial energy price distortions etc. (Gittinger, 1982; Sinha and

Bhatia, 1984; ADB, 1998a; Belli et al., 2001). In the initial phase of dissemination of

renewable energy technologies it is critically important that the above factors are also taken

into account to facilitate a proper comparison of these technologies with existing commercial

energy based options. Such an economic analysis may provide the much-needed support to

some of the renewable energy technologies during the critical phase of their evolution and

dissemination. An attempt to study several aspects of the economics of renewable energy

technologies for irrigation water pumping have also been made in this work with the

objective of quantifying their costs and benefits to the society.

At present the development and dissemination of the renewable energy technologies for the

irrigation water pumping in India is in its initial phase. The reported dissemination levels are

much smaller than their respective estimated potentials (MNES, 2003). Though a variety of

technology diffusion models are available in the literature (Bass, 1969; Islam and Hague,

1994; Sharan, 1995; Naik and Sharan, 1997) their use for forecasting the future levels of

renewable energy technology dissemination need to be undertaken very carefully. The cost of

the technologies is also expected to depend upon the cumulative level of their penetration

(Kuemmel, 1999; Ibenholt, 2002; Masini and Frankl, 2003; Zwaan and Rabl., 2003). An

advanced knowledge of the investment required for dissemination of renewable energy

technologies for irrigation water pumping and its time variation would be of considerable

help in macro-level energy planning. A preliminary attempt towards estimation of primary

energy supply potential of the renewable energy technologies for irrigation water pumping

has been made in this thesis alongwith estimation of the required amount of investment for

this purpose.

A brief chapter-wise summary of the thesis is given below.

Chapter 1

Energy Use in Indian Agriculture Sector

A brief presentation of the existing energy demand and supply situation in the Indian

agriculture sector has been made. A brief review of the published literature on the use of

renewable energy technologies in the agriculture sector for irrigation and drying has also

been presented.

xiv

Chapter 2

Monetary Valuation of Agri-residues and Preliminary Identification of Energetically

Justifiable Niche Areas for their Briquetting

A simple approach for estimating the monetary value of agricultural residues used as biofuels

has been presented in this chapter. The role of different factors (i.e. calorific values of

agricultural residues and coal, efficiencies of boilers, pithead price of coal, distances from

coal pithead and freight rate of coal transportation etc.) included in the analysis have also

been studied.

Energetics of using biomass briquettes to substitute coal deserves serious consideration, as a

substantial amount of energy is required for briquetting of biomass. In the present work an

attempt to compare the energy embodied in biomass briquettes with the energy embodied in

coal at the end use point in India has been made. Biomass briquetting does not appear to be

an energetically viable option even for locations at a distance of about 1500 km from the coal

pithead (even if the briquetting unit is located very close to the place of availability of the

biomass feedstocks). A need for transportation of biomass feedstocks further pushes this

critical distance upwards.

Chapter 3

Financial Evaluation of Renewable Energy Technologies for Irrigation Water Pumping

Financial feasibility evaluation of different options for irrigation water pumping in

agriculture sector has been presented in this chapter. The alternatives considered include

(i) diesel engine pump in independent as well as in dual-fuel mode with biogas or producer

gas, (ii) electric motor pump, (iii) SPV pump, and (iv) windmill pump. With the estimation of

irrigation water requirement and known characteristics of the resource-technology

combinations, appropriate size of the pumping system is estimated and the cost of supplying

c-d 040' 114

&Los- 146°'

xv

the water is worked out. Monetary benefits accrued to the end user have also been quantified

on the basis of the amount of diesel or electricity saved. The financial figures of merits such

as benefit to cost ratio, net present value and internal rate of return of an investment in each

option have also been estimated. The effect of fuel price escalation on the financial

performance indices has been evaluated alongwith the estimation of the break-even prices of

diesel and electricity.

Chapter 4

Financial Evaluation of Solar Drying of Agri-produce

Financial feasibility evaluation of solar crop drying is the subject matter of this chapter. With

the estimation of useful energy requirement for crop drying and known characteristics of the

solar drying system appropriate size(s) of solar dryer(s) have been estimated. The incremental

benefits of solar drying over open sun drying have also been quantified. The discounted

payback period, benefit to cost ratio, net present value and internal rate of return of an

investment on a solar dryer have been estimated.

Chapter 5

Economic Analysis of Renewable Energy Technologies for Irrigation Water Pumping

In this chapter an attempt to include certain economic considerations in the evaluation of

renewable energy technologies for irrigation water pumping have been made. The valuation

of costs and benefits associated with different renewable energy resource-technology

combinations potentially feasible for irrigation water pumping has been accordingly made.

The unit cost of water and unit cost of useful energy delivered by these technologies/systems

has also been estimated.

xvi

Chapter 6

Energy Supply from Renewables for Irrigation Water Pumping in India

Results from a preliminary attempt to estimate the fraction of energy demand for irrigation

water pumping that can be met with four renewable energy technologies for water pumping

have been presented in this chapter. Future projections for the energy demand and cumulative

potential number of installation of renewable energy technologies for irrigation water

pumping have been estimated using available technology diffusion models. An attempt to

project the capital investment requirement on renewable energy technologies for irrigation

water pumping has also been made in this chapter.

Chapter 7

Conclusions and Recommendations for Future Work

Important conclusions and policy related implications of the financial/economic evaluation

studies presented in the thesis have been summarized in this chapter along with some

recommendations for future work.

LIMITATIONS OF THE PRESENT STUDY

Since the primary objective of the study was to develop simple yet realistic methods and

approaches to study the techno-economics of several renewable energy technologies with a

potential of large scale dissemination in Indian agriculture sector, several other aspects have

not been dealt with to the extent. Important limitations of the present study are as follows.

(i)

All the sample calculations have been carried out using the conditions and prices

prevalent in rural areas of India. The methodologies suggested, however may be

applicable in rural areas of other developing countries also.

xvii

(ii) The cost of various energy end use equipments have not necessarily been normalized

to a particular year though efforts have been made to use latest available figures in

most of the cases.

(iii) The estimates used for operation and maintenance costs, useful life etc. of different

technologies are essentially based on the data provided by manufacturers or as

obtained from the literature.

(iv) While developing the financial feasibility evaluation models it has been assumed that

the costs and performance characteristics of the renewable energy options considered

in the present work are completely specified. Moreover, it is also assumed that the

monetary worth of the fuel saving can be precisely quantified. In actual practice, for

several renewable energy technologies the cost and performance related information

is not available without ambiguity. In such a scenario, in numerical calculations the

best available estimates of various input parameters have been used in the study.

(v) In most of the numerical calculations, a discount rate of 10% has been used, whereas

in actual practice some other value may also prevail. However, in most of the cases

sensitivity of the results have been studied with respect to discount rate.

(vi) Due to the unavailability of data, in chapter 6 of the thesis, energy consumption for

irrigation water pumping as a fraction of the total energy use in the agriculture sector

has been kept constant. However, it may vary with increasing energy consumption in

the agriculture sector.

(vii) A few of the available technology diffusion models have been used merely to obtain

estimates for the likely future dissemination levels of the four renewable energy

technologies for irrigation water pumping. Detailed assessment to verify the

applicability of each one of the diffusion models for forecasting the diffusion levels of

the four renewable energy technologies has not been attempted due to unavailability

xviii

of available data on actual dissemination levels in the country as well as the

distortions caused by government intervention in the diffusion of these technologies.

The work presented in the thesis partially appeared in the following research publications.

A. JOURNALS

(1) Published

(1) Pallav Purohit, Atul Kumar, Santosh Rana and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Using

Renewable Energy Technologies for Domestic Cooking in India: A Methodology for

Potential Estimation", Renewable Energy, 26 (2), pp. 235-246 (2002).

(2) Atul Kumar, Pallav Purohit, Santosh Rana and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "An

Approach to the Estimation of Value of Agricultural Residues Used as Biofuels",

Biomass and Bioenergy, 22 (3), pp. 195-203 (2002).

(3) Pallav Purohit, Atul Kumar and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Potential of CO2 Emissions

Mitigation Using Renewable Energy Technologies for Domestic Cooking in India",

International Journal of Ambient Energy, 23 (3), pp. 127-135 (2002).

(4) Tara Chandra Kandpal, Pallav Purohit, Atul Kumar and B. Chandrasekar,

"Economics of Renewable Energy Utilization in Developing Countries", SESI

Journal, 13 (1-2), pp. 57-82 (2003).

(ii) Accepted for Publication

(1) Pallav Purohit and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Techno-Economic Evaluation of Water

Pumping Windmills in India", International Journal of Energy Technology and

Policy, (In press).

(2) Pallav Purohit and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Solar Crop Dryer for Saving

Commercial Fuels: A Techno-Economic Evaluation", International Journal of

Ambient Energy, (In press).

xix

(3) Pallav Purohit and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Solar Photovoltaic Pumping in India: A

Financial Evaluation", International Journal of Ambient Energy, (In press).

(4) Pallav Purohit and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Renewable Energy Technologies for

Irrigation Water Pumping in India: Projected Levels of Dissemination, Energy

Delivery and Investment Requirements Using Available Diffusion Models",

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, (In press).

(iii) Communicated

(1) Pallav Purohit and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Techno-economics of Biogas-Based

Water Pumping in India: An Attempt to Internalize CO2 emissions Mitigation and

Other Economic Benefits".

(2) Pallav Purohit, Arun Kumar Tripathi and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Energetics of

Coal Substitution by Biomass Briquetting in India".

(3) Pallav Purohit, Atul Kumar and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Solar Drying vs. Open Sun

Drying A Framework for Financial Evaluation".

(4) Pallav Purohit and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Techno-economic Evaluation of SPV

Water Pumping in India".

B. CONFERENCES

(1) Published

(1) Pallav Purohit, Atul Kumar, Santosh Rana and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Estimation

of Monetary Worth of Agricultural Residues Used as Biofuels: A Preliminary

Estimation", Published in the proceedings of the 24th National Renewable Energy

Convention 2000 of the Solar Energy Society of India, Indian Institute of Technology

Bombay, Mumbai (India), 30 November — 2 December, 2000, pp. 328-333.

xx

(2) Atul Kumar, Pallav Purohit, Santosh Rana and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Potential of

Using Renewable Energy Technologies for Domestic Cooking in India", Published in

the proceedings of the National Workshop on Energy and Environment

Management for Sustainable Development of Agriculture and Agro-Industrial

Sector, Bhopal (India), July 8-10, 2001, pp. 100-102.

(3) Tara Chandra Kandpal, Atul Kumar and Pallav Purohit, "CO2 Mitigation Potential of

Renewable Energy Technologies for Domestic Cooking in India", Published in the

proceedings of the National Conference on Advances in Contemporary Physics and

Energy, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi (India), February 8-9, 2002,

pp. 390-401.

(4) Pallav Purohit and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Social Cost Benefit Analysis of Box

Type Solar Cooker", Published in the proceedings of the World Renewable Energy

Congress VII, Cologne, Germany, 29 June - 5 July, 2002.

(5) Pallav Purohit and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Solar Photovoltaic Pumping in India: A

Financial Evaluation", Published in the proceedings of the ISES Solar World

Congress 2003, Goteborg, Sweden, June 14-19 2003.

(6) Tara Chandra Kandpal, Pallav Purohit and Atul Kumar, "Techno-economic

Evaluation of Solar Crop Dryer", Published in the proceedings of the Second

International Conference on Renewable Energy Technology for Rural

Development (RETRUD-03), Kathmandu, Nepal, 12-14 October 2003, pp. 197-201.

(7) Pallav Purohit and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Potential of Water Pumping Using

Community Biogas Plants: An Economic Analysis", Published in the proceedings of

the World Renewable Energy Congress (WREC-VIII), Colorado, USA, 28 August -

3 September 2004.

xxi

(8) Pallav Purohit and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Dissemination of Renewable Energy

Technologies in India: An Assessment Using Technology Diffusion Models",

Published in the proceedings of the World Renewable Energy Congress (WREC-

VIII), Colorado, USA, 28 August-3 September 2004.

(ii) Communicated

(1) Pallav Purohit and Tara Chandra Kandpal, "Tecono-Economics Analysis of SPV

Pumping in India", ISES Solar World Congress 2005, August 8-12, 2005 Orlando,

Florida USA. (Abstract communicated).

(2) Pallav Purohit, "Small Scale CDM Projects in India: An Analysis of SPV Pumps",

ISES Solar World Congress 2005, August 8-12, 2005 Orlando, Florida USA.

(Abstract communicated)

CONTENTS Abstract i Contents v Preface viii List of Figures xxiii List of Tables xxvi Nomenclature xxx

Chapter 1. ENERGY USE IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE SECTOR

1.1 Introduction 1.1 1.2 Energy Use in Indian Agriculture Sector 1.2 1.3 Initiatives Towards Renewable Energy Use in the 1.6

Agriculture Sector

Chapter 2. MONETARY VALUATION OF AGRI-RESIDUES AND PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION OF ENERGETICALLY JUSTIFIABLE NICHE AREAS FOR THEIR BRIQUETTING

2.1 Introduction 2.1 2.2 Estimation of the Monetary Value of Agricultural Residues 2.2

2.2.1 Analysis 2.4 2.2.2 Results and Discussion 2.7

2.3 Energetics of Coal Substitution by Biomass Briquettes 2.18 2.3.1 Analysis 2.21 2.3.2 Results and Discussion 2.24

Chapter 3. FINANCIAL EVALUATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES FOR IRRIGATION WATER PUMPING

3.1 Introduction 3.1 3.2 Water Requirement of Different Crops 3.4 3.3 Energy Technologies for Irrigation Water Pumping 3.5

3.3.1 SPV pump 3.5 3.3.2 Windmill pump 3.6 3.3.3 Biogas driven dual fuel engine pump 3.7 3.3.4 Producer gas driven dual fuel engine pump 3.7 3.3.5 Electric motor pump 3.8 3.3.6 Diesel engine pump 3.8

3.4 Analysis 3.8 3.4.1 Estimation of capacities 3.8 3.4.2 Annual useful energy and annual water output 3.9 3.4.3 Unit cost of useful energy and unit cost of water 3.13 3.4.4 Valuation of benefits 3.13

v

3.4.5 Present value of net benefits of an investment on the renewable energy technologies for irrigation water pumping

3.4.6 Break-even analysis 3.5. Results and Discussion

Chapter 4. FINANCIAL EVALUATION OF SOLAR DRYING OF AGRI-PRODUCE

4.1 Introduction 4.2 Analysis

4.2.1 Capital cost of solar dryer 4.2.2 Unit cost of drying and unit cost of useful energy 4.2.3 Valuation of benefits

4.3 Results and Discussion

Chapter 5. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES FOR IRRIGATION WATER PUMPING

5.1 Introduction 5.2 Framework for the Economic Analysis of Renewable

Energy Technologies 5.3 Valuation of Costs

5.3.1 Capital cost 5.3.2 Cost of land 5.3.3 Operational costs 5.3.4 Annual repair and maintenance costs

5.4 Valuation of Benefits 5.4.1 Primary benefits 5.4.2 Additional economic benefits

5.5 Unit cost of Useful Energy and Unit Cost of Water 5.5. Results and Discussion

Chapter 6. ENERGY SUPPLY FROM RENEWABLES FOR IRRIGATION WATER PUMPING IN INDIA

6.1 Introduction 6.2 Projection of Energy Demand for Irrigation Water Pumping 6.3 Technology Diffusion

6.3.1 Technology diffusion Models 6.3.2 Diffusion models used for the dissemination of

renewable energy technologies 6.4 Investment Requirement for Installation of Renewable

Energy Technologies for Irrigation Water Pumping 6.5 Estimation of Energy Delivered by Renewable Energy

Technologies 6.6 Results and Discussion

3.16

3.17 3.18

4.1 4.3 4.3 4.5 4.6

4.10

5.1 5.2

5.3 5.3 5.4 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.6 5.7

5.12 5.13

6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.7

6.8

6.10

6.11

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Chapter 7. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE WORK

7.1 Conclusions 7.1 7.2 Recommendations for Future Work 7.6

APPENDICES

1 Incremental Cost of Boiler for Co-firing of Biomass Feedstock A.1.1

2 Availability of Agricultural Residues for Energy Applications A.2.1

3 Crop Water Requirement A.3.1

4 Sizing of Renewable Energy Based Systems for Irrigation A.4.1 Water Pumping

5 Unit Cost of Useful Energy and Unit Cost of Water Delivered A.5.1 by Renewable Energy Technologies (Financial Analysis)

6 Some Indian Manufacturers of Water Pumping Technologies A.6.1

7 Time Trend of Global Crude Oil Prices A.7.1

8 Unit cost of Water Delivered and Other Measures of Financial A.8.1 Performance of Windmill Pump at Different Locations in India

9 Break-even Analysis for SPV Pump A.9.1

10 Valuation of Traded Goods A.10.1

11 Estimation of the Opportunity Cost of Land (used for installing A.11.1 biogas plant)

12 Estimation of the Economic Cost of Cattle Dung A.12.1

13 Estimation of the Opportunity Cost of Water A.13.1

14 Estimation of CO2 Emissions Mitigation by Using Biogas A.14.1 Driven Dual Fuel Engine Pumps

15 Unit Cost of Useful Energy and Unit Cost of Water Delivered A.15.1 by Renewable energy Technologies (Economic Analysis)

16 Energy Supply from Renewable Energy Technologies for A.16.1 Irrigation Water Pumping: Results Based on Logistic and Gompertz model

References R.1-R.26

vii