Grundfos’ solar solutions are cost-effective and reliable for agricultural activities in India, considering the extent of remote monitoring and automation that is provided. These plug-and-go pumps are easy to install and are compatible with any of India’s varying climatic conditions. Rangarajan Ramaswamy, Senior Area Sales Manager, Water Utility, Grundfos India reveals more about how the pumps can bring in a revolution in the irrigation/agri sector
How can Grundfos Pumps India bring in a revolution in the irrigation/agri sector?
With year-round production, India’s agricultural sector is one of the most energy-consuming industries. In terms of energy, about 18 per cent of India’s total electricity consumption goes into powering irrigation. Pumps consume a dominant share of this energy given that water is a primary requirement in all agricultural activities, such as irrigation, livestock management and maintenance work. A significant amount of irrigation activities in India are fuel-run, with over 2,000 million litres of diesel used annually by irrigation pumps alone.
A sustainable alternative for subsidised grid electricity or diesel is solar energy, which can change the way energy is utilised for irrigation and pumps are operated. As a tropical country, India also has access to an abundance of solar power, which when captured for energy can reduce the burden on fossil fuels and the electricity grid. Furthermore, pumps that can function on solar power would be ideal solutions for isolated locations that do not have access to electricity. With Grundfos’ solar-powered pumps that can operate in remote locations, India’s agriculture sector can transform to become more accessible to isolated areas while conserving diesel and electric powers that can be used elsewhere. Since 2019, Grundfos has provided 8032 solar-powered pump sets in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu supporting over 8000 farms make use of solar energy.
Grundfos’ solar solutions are cost-effective and reliable for agricultural activities in India, considering the extent of remote monitoring and automation that is provided. These plug-and-go pumps are easy to install and are compatible with any of India’s varying climatic conditions. The built-in protective features of Grundfos’ pumps reduce downtime drastically, leaving the user with virtually no maintenance issues. Coupled with Grundfos’ years of expertise in the pump industry and the principles of sustainability, the solar pumps are extremely energy efficient. Grundfos also customises the products to best suit individual needs, presenting the customer with a holistic solution for their water needs, thereby reducing the servicing and installation costs along with the operation and energy costs. Also, automation has made Grundfos solar pumps operate smartly without human intervention. With solutions like the Grundfos Remote Management (GRM), customers can get a complete overview of a pump’s performance and operation. GRM also provides customers with regular updates on energy consumption.
What are the innovations for the Indian market in the irrigation/agri sector?
With the advancement of technology, the agricultural sector is also transforming. Through digitalisation, the agriculture sector is adopting new methods of operations for faster, more accurate and reliable practices. This expanded into the solar pump industry as pumps are being designed to function automatically. Farmers are now able to install self-running solar pumps that can be operated remotely, completely redefining the way water is being supplied for irrigation and other agrarian activities. As a global leader in advanced pump solutions and a trendsetter in water technologies, Grundfos has developed intelligent solar pumps that can be controlled to enable remote monitoring, therefore helping farmers in bringing water to every corner of the country.
Solar pumps are economically efficient as compared to their diesel counterparts. For instance, the SQFlex is a solar water pumping submersible pump with a built-in drive, that is an intelligent system. Being solar-powered, SQFlex is a one-time investment that does not require additional cost for energy, therefore making it way more economically viable than a diesel pump.
How sustainable and environmentally friendly are these water pumps?
As a renewable source of energy, solar power can also lead to energy conservation and the reduction of carbon emissions. Solar pumps cut down the prospect of pumps that run on fuel emitting high amounts of hazardous substances. For example, with Grundfos’ supply of the 8032 solar-powered pump sets the CO2 emission was reduced by 41,500 tonnes per year. Over the next five years, we aim to supply solar pumps for the supply of irrigation water to one million farmers and avoid an annual CO2 emission of 6.6 million tonnes.
Furthermore, advanced processes such as the aeroponics system reduce water usage by 98 per cent, fertiliser usage by 60 per cent and completely avoids pesticide usage, in comparison with conventional soil-based harvest methods.
How cost-effective are these pumps?
When investing in a product, usually the focus is on the initial cost and customers overlook the lifecycle cost. The lifecycle cost of pumps should be taken into consideration before making an informed purchase. When the cost is split, the realisation is that only five to ten per cent makes up for the initial cost. For instance, consider a 10-year life period product, five per cent is the initial cost, 10 per cent is the maintenance cost and 85 per cent is the energy cost. When we entered the Indian pump market, it started promoting the concept of lifecycle cost or cost of ownership among its customers. Grundfos advocates for the need to invest in efficient products that provide reliability as well as energy and water efficiency without compromising on productivity. This ensures long term, optimal performance, as compared to the lesser efficient counterparts available in the market.
Additionally, owing to the energy conservation that can be achieved with Grundfos’ pumps, our customers can reduce their power consumption and costs. We also offer pumps that are embedded with IoT and data analytics, enabling predictive maintenance. This allows the system to study the pattern of a pump’s behaviour and avoid any foreseen errors, ultimately reducing human intervention and the cost of repair.
For example, in 2013, a farmer from Bijapur, Karnataka, installed a Grundfos solar pump of 5.5 kW for Rs 10 lakh. While the payback was estimated to happen over 3+ years, the entire cost of purchase was received within one and a half years of installation through energy conservation. Going by this, it is possible to achieve faster paybacks and save energy with solar water pumps, while ensuring consistent performance in the long run.
How effective are these pumps in drought-prone areas?
Grundfos’s SQFlex and CRFlex pumps have proven their excellence in supplying water to drought-affected areas. When a reliable waterhole dried up in a remote location in Africa, a farmer installed the SQFlex solar-powered borehole unit with six solar modules to bring back water supply to the region. Through pumps that operate on renewable energy, remote communities from water-scare areas have benefited from activities such as livestock watering and irrigation. In India, remote rural areas do not have access to electricity 24 hours a day, restricting them to flexibly operate their pumps. With solar pumps, farmers can irrigate their fields as per the requirement within suitable timings during the day, not having to worry about the availability of power.
How technologically efficient are these pumps?
With agriculture adopting digital technologies for faster and efficient operations, irrigation pumps are also advancing to contribute to this change. A major advantage of smart pumps in irrigation is the ability to operate them remotely. Through products that are easy to install and require low maintenance, we are empowering farmers in India to achieve highly efficient solar irrigation with minimal operational cost.
Grundfos banks on its years of expertise in the pump industry and consistent research and development over the years to design the best of pumps for irrigation. This resulted in the development of such energy-efficient pumps to offer easy installation, low maintenance and low operation cost. Our pumps are also user-friendly, taking flexibility up a notch. For instance, The Renewable Solar Inverter (RSI) by Grundfos can be configured with a Grundfos pump in under five minutes, which goes to show the simplicity of the product. RSI has also been developed to be able to fit existing pump systems.
As a self-operating pump, SQFlex comes with an inbuilt Frequency convertor and inverter, Dry Run Sensor and integrated Motor Protection, which makes the operation automatic and convenient for the user, that can be customised basis the volume of water required, location and depth of water.
Similarly, the CRFlex pump with the MGFlex motor can be used for livestock watering among other water needs and is built to run in remote areas where access to electricity is difficult. MGFlex’s Integrated Variable Frequency Drive can be used to run at a range of speeds, making it flexible too.
For solar-powered pumps with higher motor capacities (3 to 7.5HP), Grundfos has a high-efficiency pump coupled with a Permanent Magnet Synchronous motor and an external control with all motor protections. Remote monitoring is an integral part of this system.
Where are the manufacturing units located?
Grundfos currently has two manufacturing units in India. We are headquartered in Chennai, with the facility catering to our supply chains to the South and East of India. To support manufacturing and supply chains in West and North India, we set up our second manufacturing unit in India in Ahmedabad.
Both the facilities are responsible for the sales of Grundfos products in India’s neighbouring countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives.
What will be your plans for the Indian market?
Solar-powered pumps in agriculture are bound to see increasing growth in the coming years, as acceptance of these pumps by farmers is gaining momentum. There is also a sustained push from Central and state governments for the deployment of solar-powered pumps through the KUSUM schemes and state-level programme.
The need for the higher quantum of water in some states is getting pronounced and this calls for higher motor capacities ie up to 15HP.
Grundfos will train its focus on:
- Constantly improving overall system efficiencies in solar pumping solutions to deliver higher litres of water / Wp of solar power used
- Expanding the product portfolio to meet the market demands
- Cost optimisation keeping its hallmarks quality, superior performance and reliability intact
- Developing smart and innovative controller solutions to support farmers in complete utilisation of generated Solar power for multiple uses of farm equipment apart from pumps.
Sanjiv Das
sanjiv.das@mmactiv.com
