A Balancing Act for Competing Land Uses in India

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The food shortages that first emerged in 2007 revealed an emerging policy crisis in the land sector due to the competing demands of food production, carbon sequestration, biofuel production and urban development, to name a few. Nearly 60 percent of India’s population relies on agriculture. But the sunny state of Gujarat, which was once a leading food-producing area, has heavily degraded soils.

To boost the local economy, the state has put in place incentives to promote solar power production. Abellon, a solar panel business in India’s western state of Gujarat, has developed a land use approach that may help balance some of the policy challenges facing governments—it set up a “Solar-Agro-Electric-Model” on 30 acres to generate 5 mega watts (MW) of electricity. Abellon also deliberately decided not to interfere with the existing predominant land use.

Bhatkota Village, near Modasa, was chosen because it is situated in the foothills of the Aravalli mountain range in Sabarkantha district, a rocky and stony area with poor soil water retention and poor cereal production. On the first 17.5 acres set up to produce 3 MW, Abellon discovered that under the region’s hot sun, the solar panels provide shade that keeps the soil sufficiently cool for shade-loving vegetables to grow. Water melons and the bottle, little, and finger gourds as well as ginger and turmeric spices can grow underneath the panels. The solar panels have to be washed every two days to avoid dust build up. These precious drops are used to water the vegetables and spices. Involving rural communities, including through targeting women at the workplace, is having a socio-economic impact because landless farmers and rural women are among Abellon’s employees who weed and harvest the crops. Local laborers are also hired to till, clear and fence the land, and for construction.

Abellon estimates that all the solar plants in place to date, with a total capacity 1,059.64 MW, cover 6,181 acres and can sequester about 1,600,000 tons of carbon every year. If a similar approach was applied in this area, they would generate 10,000 tons of agricultural produce and employ 2,000 farmers and villagers.

In 2010, India also launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to generate 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022.

Web site: http://www. abelloncleanenergy. com