[pathik@2020]

I have been mulling over this decision for some time now and have to decide and action it soon after the rains subside. But before I do that I thought it wise to get the views of fellow BHPians on something that I have been agonizing over. Let me give you a background before I jump into the actual dilemma.

Background:
At heart I am a small-town boy who has always dreamt of having a house with a lawn and backyard and a small farm where I could grow some food for my family. I guess this comes from my genes. My father was the first generation in his family to move out of our ancestral village to work a job in the city. He retired after doing many years of a much coveted ‘sarkari naukri’ all his working life – providing for his parents and family back in the village as well as his kids. With wise investments known to his generation (FDs and land) he has built a comfortable retired for himself with both money & time to spare. That puts my generation in the privileged position of being able to indulge in wants – like a farm 😊
After much ground-work I was finally able to find a small tract of farmland that suited my requirements and budget. And I have come to own a farm on a gentle hill, that has not been cultivated for past many years. Soil quality is good and I have plans for cultivation. It is a completely green-field venture – in the sense that I have to put up all infrastructure from scratch. This has been quite a journey with an equal dose of govt. bureaucracy, village politics and local concept of professional & punctual work!! Since this is a labour of love rather than an investment that I want to monetise, I am enjoying and learning from the journey and making new friends along the way; maybe a story to be told some other time. Suffice to say that I have a new found appreciation for the Amazon series ‘Panchayat’ 😊 For now, work on making the farm cultivation ready is ambling along at a gentle pace. The place is fenced and plotted with ~150 native trees planted along the periphery and drip irrigation set up for the trees.

Dilemma:
I need to set up drip irrigation for the entire farm and need two things – source of water and electricity. I was lucky enough to have found a decent source of ground water in the farm and have a 425ft borewell. I had applied for electricity connection at the local State Electricity Board office and got a connection and that is turning out to be a part of the problem. I discovered two things that have put a spanner in my plans: there is extensive load shedding in the village. Most of the villagers do not pay for electricity that they consume, so every now and then SEB resorts to disconnecting electricity. Though the supply is supposed to be for 8 to 12 hours in a day, supply is usually on for about 8 hours – that too only when it is there. There are times when the entire village is without electricity for 3 to 5 days and this is a major challenge. Second issue is that the supplied voltage is too low to run a submersible pump. I need a submersible pump with a head of 450ft and that will mean at least a 1.5hp pump on three phase or 2hp on single phase.
For now electricity requirement is for this submersible pump and subsequently for domestic use and for running small farm utilities viz. drip pump. I need to put up a drip irrigation system for the entire plot for agriculture. I am also constructing a small farmhouse that will need electricity connection. Villagers in the area use diesel pumps for pumping water from open well and use a low voltage single phase connection to run lights – even fans do not run at full speed at the supplied voltage.

Options: Currently I am evaluating three options: 1) Installing a captive 25kv transformer 2) Genset of 5kv 3) Solar system of 7kv

1. Captive Transformer
This will solve the problem of unstable voltage most reliably. State Electricity Board has a scheme whereby a consumer/s can request for a captive transformer that is set up at the person/s expense. The smallest one is 25kv, this can be set up by a private party with SEB’s permission or can be set up by the Board for the consumer/s. The advantage here is that electricity quality improves to reliable required voltage so that all appliances/motors can run without fluctuations. While it is possible for two or three people to come together (considering it is a 25kv transformer) to set this up, even if one person does not pay their bill electricity is disconnected to the transformer leading to collective responsibility for overdues. Collective responsibility does not work out great in rural areas, hence it is advisable to go solo or only with someone close and reliable. This solution envisages continued reliance on the grid – considering it is rural connection, sometimes there is no electricity for two or three days. Cost estimates that I have received for setting this up is between 3.5 to 4L which includes all costs for hardware, installation, metering, earthing and all wiring till distribution board.
PRO: High quality of electricity with no fluctuations, moderate cost if partnering with someone, moderate set-up time (7 days but can take longer for permissions)
CON: High cost if solo, dependence on other users if partner with someone, Grid load-shedding

2. Genset of 5kv
A 5kv genset will be required to efficiently run a 1.5HP pump; there are generators available in this capacity from Kirloskar, Cummins and some others. This can be used for agriculture purpose as well as for the farm-house for 10 to 12 hours a day. For domestic use it will have to be complemented with electricity connection (maybe single phase) to run light and fans for rest of the duration. This will come with the added expense of regular maintenance and fuel and associated downtimes. It may therefore not be very wise to be fully dependent only on genset. One time cost of genset with installation will be 2 to 2.25L.
PRO: Almost immediate set-up (1-2 days), moderate cost
CON: High running cost (fuel & maintenance), still need a complementary connection

3. Solar set-up of 7kv
This sounds like the most reliable of all options considering this has one time set-up cost with recurring cost of battery replacement in 3-5 years. Solar set-up of this capacity will be needed to be fully independent of any other source and also because on cloudy/rainy days the panels work at 60 to 70% capacity in that area. This can be fully off-grid and supply fully reliable electricity for the next decade, though companies claim a life of 15 years. I know of people who are working full time only on solar power in the area and are very comfortably able to run farm operations. However this comes with the highest initial capex of ~7.5L for all hardware and installation.
PRO: Completely off-grid with no carbon footprint, most reliable source – SUN
CON: High cost, longest set-up time (7 to 15 days), recurring cost of batteries, Risk of outage on maintenance days

I would have preferred to go with captive transformer if I am able to get a trustworthy partner in the vicinity – this will be a win-win with moderate cost, comparatively fast set-up with reliable electricity supply. In the absence of a trustworthy partner, solar is the next viable option albeit with high upfront investment. Any thoughts will be much appreciated !!

Including some pics of my farm:

[ninjatalli]

Suggest you reach out to @graaja who has taken several steps on a similar exercise and might be able to help answer some of your questions.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...city-farm.html (Solar Power for Irrigation and Electricity at Farm)

[warrioraks]

Originally Posted by pathik@2020

I have been mulling over this decision for some time now and have to decide and action it soon after the rains subside. But before I do that I thought it wise to get the views of fellow BHPians on something that I have been agonizing over. Let me give you a background before I jump into the actual dilemma.

I can’t provide you expert opinion from an agriculturist point of view. But the answer to this question practically depends on your planning. Is this going to be a source of income for you where you cannot afford downtime or is it more of a side thing? How sure are you about being in this for the long haul? Do you want to take a conservative approach or are you open to higher risk?

The captive transformer is certainly not an option considering the unreliable connection in your area.

The choice is essentially between option 2 and 3 it seems. I am more of a ‘pay as you go’ kind of person rather than high upfront costs and recovering in the long term. So would have choosen option 2. It also appears to be more reliable as you don’t have to worry about cloudy days, any early adopter issues, etc. Gensets are pretty much commoditised and any wear-tear/breakdowns should be easily fixable as well.

So would go for Genset if you are either looking for high reliability OR don’t want to plan for long term.

No matter which choice, my best wishes to you on this journey.

OT:Since you quoted a tv series (Panchayat), allow me to share one as well - ‘Clarkson’s farm’ on Amazon Prime. Do watch if you haven’t already. The story of a car enthusiast (Jeremy Clarkson) trying his hand at farming.

[PreludeSH]

Just as alternative, cant wind power be used to lift water into a overhead tank (or bank of tanks) and use that ? For drip irrigation, that would be enough. You can water a section in turns if tank is smaller.
Even solar and SEB supply would also work since the tank is used to store water for some time and act as an alternative to batteries!

[fordday]

Can you create a pond with appropriate slope around to catch as much rainwater as possible? That will reduce your pumping needs somewhat.

This advice is purely from a generational city dweller perspective. So it may not hold much 'water'

[green_ninja]

Originally Posted by pathik@2020

I have been mulling over this decision for some time now and have to decide and action it soon after the rains subside. But before I do that I thought it wise to get the views of fellow BHPians on something that I have been agonizing over. Let me give you a background before I jump into the actual dilemma.....snip!

First off...congrats on taking the first step towards your dream!!! IMHO you will get better suggestions if you can provide a few more details about your farm. What is the acreage? You mention slope. How much is it? What do you plan to cultivate? What type of pressure you need for your drip hose? Do you plan to pump water from the borewell to an overhead tank or a ground level sump and then use another pump to irrigate the field? How far does the water have to travel horizontally to reach the farthest point from the said tank? How many hours a week will you run the pumps?

I'll describe my setup for comparison. I have a 10 acre farm on the outskirts of Coimbatore where I have planted coconut. We don't do any inter-cropping. We have two open wells (~45feet deep) with a 5HP and 7.5HP 3ph free electricity connection from the SEB and a 500ft deep borewell. We run a 5HP open well submersible pump (OWS) in one well and a 7.5HP OWS in another well. Both the pumps have ~40m head. I also run a 7.5HP 42stage 4.5" 800ft head submersible pump (BWS) with a changeover switch between the OWS and the BWS. We use the borewell as a backup during summer when the wells almost run dry. We pump from the borewell into any one of the wells and irrigate with OWS.

The OWSs have a 2" delivery connected directly to the drip main line (3" PVC). From the main lines we have gate valves opening different sub-mains and the sub-mains (2.5" PVC) are connected to 16mm lateral hoses (HDPE) that feed the coco palms directly. The individual laterals to each palm can be controlled by small taps. This supplies about 3-400 lph to each palm. The farm has a slope of about 30ft from east end to west end and a total length of 1300ft. Water from one of the wells has to travel ~600ft and a height of ~20ft to reach the farthest point and the distance from the other well is about 1100ft and 30ft height. If you take into account the water depth in the wells that is about a head of 15-20m.

This system works quite well since the pressure required for the drip system is pretty low but if you are cultivating vegetables you'll need drip holes at ~1ft spacing and a filter system for the drip. That will increase your pressure requirements.

We also face some reliability issues in the 3ph electricity supply as these are free agri connections and the SEB only supplies 3ph for 6-8hrs a day. We typically run one of the OWS pump once a day for 2-3hrs in the dry seasons and at a much lesser frequency during the monsoons. In case of 3ph supply non-availability we have a 2ph - 3ph starter for both the OWS and BWS pumps.

In your case, 1.5hp pump seems insufficient for a 450ft borewell. Even if it pumps water up to a ground level sump the output would be very low. A relative of mine has a 100kLiter ground level sump and he has a 5HP BWS in his 500ft deep borewell. It takes about 20hrs to fill this sump. That should give you an idea of how long it would take to bring a decent volume water above the ground.

I would suggest you go for at least a 5HP pump. Now that removes the genset out of question as it would become very expensive to operate something around 10-15KV. Your best option is going for a 10kW solar pump system. A lot of people would say 7kW for 5HP is sufficient but in my experience the current output on low light days is low enough to impact the delivery volume and pressure. A 10kW system would give you a sufficient margin of safety and enough to run some lighting loads for your farm house.

Another suggestion is, if your consumption is low and if it is possible apply for an industrial connection for agricultural related activities. They have a separate tariff class for that in TN and it is pretty reliable even in rural areas. The SEB has to install a transformer and cannot deny it under any circumstances. Some palms have to be greased to do the grunt work (~10k) but the work will be done. The basic charge is ~1500 per month whether you consume power or not but even if you run a 5HP pump a couple of hours a day the charge comes to not more than 2k per month. It is a pretty economical solution.

[condor]

Originally Posted by green_ninja

In your case, 1.5hp pump seems insufficient for a 450ft borewell..

I dont think 1.5 HP pump will be sufficient for 450 ft. 5 or 7.5 HP is more like it. Pls check

[green_ninja]

Originally Posted by condor

I dont think 1.5 HP pump will be sufficient for 450 ft. 5 or 7.5 HP is more like it. Pls check

We are saying the same thing boss!

[condor]

Originally Posted by green_ninja

We are saying the same thing boss!

darn - mis-read that. Btw, apart from the HP rating, the number of stages will also need to be correctly used.

[aim120]

You should get a solar pump with VFD. The minimum HP required to pump at 450feet is around 6.5hp to 7hp motor.

Also conventional motors efficiency in india is about 18 to 30% meaning. For example, 0.5hp (372watt) motor can pull around 1kw of power due to its poor efficiency. Even a 5 star rated pump in 0.5hp class are at best 40% efficiency with most being less then 30% for 5 star rated.

Solar pumps and DC pumps/ brushless DC are very efficient. Upwards of 70% efficiency, BLDC pumps in 90 plus efficiency class.

The regular induction motor pumps sold in India have very poor electrical efficiency due to crude design in winding, core losses and also mechanical loss due to poor impeller designs and material choices.

So when you go for a high efficiency solar pumps, you not only save on power consumption. They also can pump from 3.75hp with reduced water flow (490 feet head) when solar power is low or 7hp with increased water flow, when solar power is high, they can do this by varying the rpm.

If you go for poor efficiency pump, you will need to up size everything in your 3 options i.e transformer, generator capacity, solar panels/ inverter power and thicker wires for all 3 options.

[MS_Auto]

I have been on solar (in an urban setting) for about 3+ years now.
My 2 cents:
1. Go for a HYBRID solar setup where you can export / import from the grid when power supply is available and when grid power is switched off, it can reliably charge your Inverter setup.
2. Add to this a high capacity inverter with sufficient storage battery capacity to last you for at least 24 hrs without power from the grid or the solar setup.

With this, you should have reliable power available for your needs.

Before you go in for any solution, it is important to have complete visibility on your load (present as well as future). Rationalise where possible.

Once you know the sizing, then you can decide on the solution.


Like LEGO, somethings can be scaled up. Like adding solar panels or batteries for higher backup to the setup. Inverter / cables size cannot be scaled up, hence, I would suggest going in for higher capacity / size solar inverter with cabling suitable for the same. This helps you with an economic as well as scalable setup with minimal waste.

Once you have the need or the budget available, then you can scale up per the situation.

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by fordday

Can you create a pond with appropriate slope around to catch as much rainwater as possible? That will reduce your pumping needs somewhat.

This advice is purely from a generational city dweller perspective. So it may not hold much 'water'

Ponds can be expensive, especially with the fuel cost having doubled in the past 5 years. At the moment building swales and trenches to collect water from the rainfall in your property would be a better future proof idea.

Solar hybrid is a better solution with adequate battery backup. Always think about what the future usage and needs.- Electric cars and two wheelers for example.

A diesel generator as a backup for this is a bulletproof solution.

Maddy

[gypsygenes]

Congratulations on realizing your farm dream! It is a lovely, heady and deeply satisfying experience, as I have understood. As I write, we are looking at crop losses, breached embankments and tractor breakdown, all of these in the last two weeks due to heavy rains in the region where our farms are located. I have 4 plots approximately 4 acres each, located in a block which is two hours of drive west of Nagpur. I have been on the farm journey since 2017. Please see the following only as me trying to share my experience and what has worked in the context and variables that I have in the region where farms are located.

You began by sharing your dilemma of needing to set up drip irrigation for your farm. This then had two dependencies - water and electricity.

Both water and electricity will be required for almost everything that you will do on the farm, from cropping to setting up a farmhouse. So maybe your plan should think of achieving reliable and sustainable water source, pumping system and electricty/power supply that can be used across functions.

As green_ninja and condor have already mentioned, 1.5 hp pump will not be sufficient. We have a 430 feet deep borewell and have installed a 25kv transformer which is on the irrigation supply grid. So it feeds only the three phase irrigation supply to the farm. On this borewell we have a 7.5 hp pump to achieve the lift and flow that can irrigate a 4 acre farm within a reasonable set of hours. This line is dependent on state electricity board's irrigation power supply schedule. It is roughly 8 hours with a split of 4 days in daytime and 3 days at night time. This is highly inconvenient if the pump doesn't have a remote on/off switching system.

We also have an open well. We have also used diesel pump sets. This is expensive to maintain on farms and per hour cost will be high. Moreover, these are highly prone to theft and diesel pilfering. Overall, it is cumbersome also.

Having learnt from the last 5-6 years, I am considering solar now. Solar will probably address the limitations mentioned above. However, I have not found a reliable solar energy based pump suppliers in our region. The latest I have heard of is Ecozen Solutions. https://www.ecozensolutions.com/ . I came across them through this podcast episode where the founders spoke recently - https://open.spotify.com/episode/39A...SWKWvaZ-gzFjXw .

I plan to get in touch with them for their ecotron pump offering. It is powered by solar and is backed with IoT features. Another advantage they have mentioned is that the energy generated from solar can be plugged to other functions like powering a house, charging car etc thereby making it multifunctional.

I haven't initiated a conversation with them yet. If you'd like we can do it together and try checking for a deal. I would love to visit an installation by them.

Now, to drip irrigation. This will be a substantial expenditure. Have you decided on what will you plant/crop and if drip is the option? Drip lines are sensitive to water quality. If you have high TDS in your source, drip nozzles will choke up. That can lead to crop damage. Can your irrigation need be achieved by low output sprinklers? Sprinkler costs are a fraction of drip. If I understood it right, you are beginning with farming. If that's the case, may be you could consider building up experience of a few cropping cycles with sprinklers? Netafim's drip systems are the best in class if you're looking for it. I cannot afford them yet because of my current outlay on tractors and earth moving equipment. So I do it with sprinklers.

From your photos, I also noticed that it doesn't have a fence. Please, prioritize this. None of the above expenditures can be done without securing your farm. Preferably a 8ft tall fence. From stray animal incursions to trespassing... all of these will bleed your farm operation!

The only post I ever wrote here was when I bought a Mahindra 655 tractor - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/comme...ml#post5099261 (Mahindra launches Arjun Novo 65 HP and 75 HP tractors)

Thank you for your post that got me to write this!

Are you sure you need drip irrigation?

[pathik@2020]

First up, thank-you for sharing your inputs and apologies for the delayed revert. I shall try to share my thoughts on all suggestions received

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Suggest you reach out to @graaja who has taken several steps on a similar exercise and might be able to help answer some of your questions.

Thanks – have been following his post for some time now for guidance on going solar, which eventually I may.

Originally Posted by warrioraks

I can’t provide you expert opinion from an agriculturist point of view. But the answer to this question practically depends on your planning.,,

Thanks for your good wishes and for the recommendation of ‘Clarkson’s Farm’ have added it to my watch-list
I agree with you on pay-as-you-go instead of sinking CAPEX at the outset and therefore have been a little wary of going off-grid solar. Also, this is more a labour of love rather a steady income stream and therefore like your suggestion of going with the genset option. Also, like you mentioned - genset servicing should be easy to manage Will share my experience once decided and executed.

Originally Posted by PreludeSH

Just as alternative, cant wind power be used to lift water into a overhead tank (or bank of tanks) and use that ? For drip irrigation, that would be enough. You can water a section in turns if tank is smaller.
Even solar and SEB supply would also work since the tank is used to store water for some time and act as an alternative to batteries!

Wind power is expensive to harness, there is a lot of research ongoing in this field that could make it easy to put up solutions for home owners. One company that is working in this space if Flower Turbines https://flowerturbines.com/about-us/ but their current footprint in only USA and Europe. Also, I am not sure if the wind speed at my location is good enough for this solution – but an input that I will research further.

Originally Posted by fordday

Can you create a pond with appropriate slope around to catch as much rainwater as possible? That will reduce your pumping needs somewhat.

This advice is purely from a generational city dweller perspective. So it may not hold much 'water'

Like the mart pun
Even if I create a pond to collect rainwater it will need pumping but more importantly surface runoff cannot be used in drip solutions. Drip needs clear water or water filter to remove physical impurities – otherwise drip holes will get blocked and drip lines will have to be discarded. Surface runoff also comes with soil so it cannot be used for fertigation (putting fertilisers through drip) as that needs clear water without solutes. Nevertheless creating a pond is a good idea to harvest rainwater – but something I am not considering at this time because the farm is quite small at 3 acres.

Originally Posted by green_ninja

First off...congrats on taking the first step towards your dream!!! IMHO you will get better suggestions if you can provide a few more details about your farm. What is the acreage? You mention slope. How much is it? What do you plan to cultivate? What type of ...

Thank-you very much!! This took me quite a few years of search and many day trips to finally find a place that ticked all boxes and fit my budget
Well in terms of my requirement for drip; it is primarily for vegetable farming, especially tomatoes that grow very well in the area. The set up I am planning is, borewell to pump water in a underground tank of about 10k Lt and from there will have a separate pumping solution for a 5k Lt overhead tank; and this is for a 3acre farm. The farm is on a small hill with and elevation of about 30ft from the lowest plot to the highest point. Overhead tank will take it up by another 20ft or so with a drip tank next to it. Plots are cut out at 3 levels, the top most will be 20ft below drip tank, second level will be about 35ft below and the last plot about 50ft below the drip tank level. I expect gravity to help in building enough pressure for the drip, else will need a pump for that too.
On the BWS I was going by performance chart of Cropmton pumps from their catalogue ref Sl. No. 13 in table below (sourced from Crompton Catalogue):

It shows up as 30LPM for a head of 150m, this will take 8 hours to completely fill up 15k Lt tanks and thereafter about 2 hours of running everyday for a usage of about 4000 to 5000 Lt. Please let me know if I am missing something major here. By the way a 1L Lt sump is quite large, what is so much water getting used for at your friend’s farm – is it flood irrigation? If I actually need to go with a 5HP pump as explained by you and Condor then a 10kva solar set-up is the way to go. I shall explore industrial connection for agricultural use form the local SEB office, this sounds very promising and I will find out more about this.

Originally Posted by condor

I dont think 1.5 HP pump will be sufficient for 450 ft. 5 or 7.5 HP is more like it. Pls check

The consensus is that I need a higher rated pump - so will revisit my requirement!!

[pathik@2020]

Originally Posted by aim120

You should get a solar pump with VFD. The minimum HP required to pump at 450feet is around 6.5hp to 7hp motor.

The regular induction motor pumps sold in India have very poor electrical efficiency due to crude design in winding, core losses and also mechanical loss due to poor impeller designs and material choices.

So when you go for a high efficiency solar pumps, you not only save on power consumption. They also can pump from 3.75hp with reduced water flow (490 feet head) when solar power is low or 7hp with increased water flow, when solar power is high, they can do this by varying the rpm.

If you go for poor efficiency pump, you will need to up size everything in your 3 options i.e transformer, generator capacity, solar panels/ inverter power and thicker wires for all 3 options.

Thank-you!! I shall discuss this with the solar equipment person I am talking to, he did mention the VFD solution with a solar pump or a single phase pump on solar power. I need to delve deeper in this.

Originally Posted by MS_Auto

I have been on solar (in an urban setting) for about 3+ years now.
...
Like LEGO, somethings can be scaled up. Like adding solar panels or batteries for higher backup to the setup. Inverter / cables size cannot be scaled up, hence, I would suggest going in for higher capacity / size solar inverter with cabling suitable for the same. This helps you with an economic as well as scalable setup with minimal waste.

Once you have the need or the budget available, then you can scale up per the situation.

Thanks for your inputs! This is exactly my solar person suggested – in a solar set up only panels can be added but it the entire system can not to built in stages as battery, inverter and cables are locked to a particular capacity. Therefore if going 100% solar then it may be a good idea for me add a small buffer of 15-20% on top of the requirement that I foresee right now.

Originally Posted by maddy42

Ponds can be expensive, especially with the fuel cost having doubled in the past 5 years. At the moment building swales and trenches to collect water from the rainfall in your property would be a better future proof idea.

Solar hybrid is a better solution with adequate battery backup. Always think about what the future usage and needs.- Electric cars and two wheelers for example.

A diesel generator as a backup for this is a bulletproof solution.

Maddy

Thanks for your inputs!! Going hybrid with solar + a genset is an interesting idea, good for rainy days  Near my farm some people have put up solar panels and they report about 70% efficiency on rainy days – this sounds pretty good to me. Maybe because it doesn’t remain very overcast for very long during monsoons, even though Igatpuri is a heavy rainfall area. I am of the understanding that using surface run-off water is not advisable for drip so this solution is not being considered.

Originally Posted by gypsygenes

Congratulations on realizing your farm dream! It is a lovely, heady and deeply satisfying experience, as I have understood. As I write, we are looking at crop losses, breached embankments and tractor breakdown, all of these in the last two weeks due to heavy rains in the region where our farms are located. I have 4 plots approximately 4 acres each, located in a block which is two hours of drive west of Nagpur. I have been on the farm journey since 2017. Please see the following only as me trying to share my experience and what has worked in the context and variables that I have in the region where farms are located.

You began by sharing your dilemma of needing to set up drip irrigation for your farm. This then had two dependencies - water and electricity.
...

Are you sure you need drip irrigation?

Well, you have hit the nail on the head  Farming is a rather tough thing to do, especially for someone from the city. I have had some experience with farming in the past but nothing as hand-on as I am doing right now. As I type this out, I have experience with soybean crop that I left totally dependent on rains (without any irrigation). With some care and some luck (soy prices at an all-time high) was able to recover costs. I also understand that going from soy to vegetables is a jump by many factors. Since, it is a small farm and hilly I would rather go with drip for vegetable farming rather than flood irrigation which will lead to a lot of wastage due to run-off. But first up, like others have also mentioned I need to re-evaluate the pump that I need and therefore work out the overall load requirement. I am happy to jointly talk to solar equipment suppliers that you are planning to approach. However, there is a supplier I have been talking to in Nashik who supplies and installs equipment in Nashik and the vicinity. Let me know if you would want to talk to them to explore if they can set up in Nagpur (I think not but no harm exploring).
It is not visible in the pictures that I shared but the farm has a barbed wire fence of 5.5ft which at a later date I may need to update with a chain-link to prevent smaller animals from straying in. General safety is not a concern the village but its mostly animals that need to be kept out.


Many thanks to everyone for sharing their experience and suggestions!! Here is what I plan to do next: Basis inputs that I have received here I shall re-look at the capacity of pump required and therefore evaluate the total load of electricity required. Staying only on genset does not look like a viable option, therefore I plan to talk some people in the vicinity of my farm who have either of the two solutions: captive transformer and solar power for all their needs. All inputs here empower me to have a knowledgeable discussion!