Explore our ongoing and completed research initiatives addressing critical challenges in rural energy, irrigation systems, and sustainable development.
IIT Bombay's collaboration with PoCRA to enhance climate-resilience and profitability of smallholder farming systems. Energy team solutions for reliable access to water and electricity for irrigation across 5000 villages.
Year: 2020-2024
First work to quantify water-energy-food nexus linkages using a generalized methodology. Provides crop-wise energy usage (kWh/ha) and water applied (mm) for irrigation systems in Maharashtra.
Year: 2017-2022
Demand model for power consumption based on cropping and irrigation practices. Built into software module to estimate minimum Distribution Transformer capacity required in villages.
Year: 2017-2022
Innovative solution to determine infrastructure requirements based on crop data. Successfully implemented in 10 villages through government processes, promoting information, comprehension and collective action.
Year: 2023-2024
New approach to restructure distribution networks to ensure good quality power supply. Feasibility study in Umbarda Village led to one-third cost reduction, improved voltage profile and even loading of transformers.
Year: 2020-2021
Guidelines for appropriate pump selection with high penetration of sprinkler usage. Addresses complexity of pump selection beyond single duty point considerations for pressurized irrigation systems.
Year: 2017-2021
Low-cost, effective solution to improve power quality for irrigation. Capacitor usage leads to 5-10% voltage improvement and 5% energy loss reduction, substantially reducing transformer failure and tripping incidences.
Year: 2014-2024
App-based solution to schedule farmers' irrigation requirements to avoid transformer overloading during peak Rabi season. Successfully implemented at 11 locations across Vidarbha and Marathwada.
Year: 2021-2024
Documenting electrical distribution system of agricultural feeders in GIS and connecting it to cropping patterns and water sources. System for design and analysis while optimizing resources and farmer requirements.
Year: 2023-2025
Technical analysis of 1 MW scale solar PV plant through observations, SCADA data analysis and simulations. Suggestions made for incorporation in future implementations and DPRs of similar plants.
Year: 2023
Study and analysis of 2-8 MW scale renewable energy projects connected to Agricultural feeders. Focus on project management processes, efficiency, coverage and overall benefits.
Year: 2025-Ongoing
Multi-institutional study across Maharashtra to develop protocol for energy consumption estimation. Study of 100 feeders resulted in changes to MSEDCL energy accounting.
Year: 2015-2016
Research on residential electricity demand modeling in rural and peri-urban contexts.
Collaborative research on technology-aided groundwater management approaches in India.
Systematic estimation of solar PV potential across government building rooftops, canal tops, and abandoned mine lands in Goa. Study found approximately 123 MWp total potential using GIS mapping with site verification.
Year: 2017-2018
Techno-economic comparison of various power distribution models including offgrid solar PV, HVDS, and grid based systems through a systemic lens.
Year: 2020
Study on profitability of different cropping patterns as a function of water sources. Investigated the economics of irrigation investment across Marathwada and Vidarbha regions. Findings show increasing irrigation
Year: 2021-2022