Because groundwater is abstracted illegally, without permits, farmers receive no subsidies and must shoulder the full investment cost. Solar energy adoption is affected by the availability of equipment in local markets, its capital costs that are typically higher than equivalent diesel-based solutions, and dependence on solar radiation levels. As a result, water is not always available on demand, unless the power generated is stored in batteries or lifted water is kept in a storage reservoir. Despite these and other constraints, the anarchical expansion trend continues unabated and shows no sign of levelling-off as 1) investment costs are dropping, 2) the costs of fuel and electricity keep soaring, and 3) the increasing number of solar panel companies and the growing competition lead some of these companies to offer extended payment facilities to farmers. According to our interviewees, the cost of installation of solar panels decreased by almost 50% between 2015 and 2020.
Some farmers have expressed interest in connecting to the public grid, seeing potential benefits in combining solar energy and grid power, notably the possibility of pumping and irrigating at night, and a more rational use of groundwater. As one farmer mentioned: "If we had been authorised to equip our boreholes with electricity, we could have avoided the current development of solar irrigation systems that leads to a more intensified use of groundwater resources." Connecting farmers to the public electricity grid could also allow them to sell solar energy when they do not need it, avoiding over pumping and enhancing the national production of electricity. This did not yet happen because of technical issues (panels are scattered) and the lack of initiatives by the public electricity company to support such connections.
The benefits and challenges related to the expansion of solar panels for irrigation are now well-identified in many countries, and several initiatives have taken place to address them (Hartung and Pluschke, 2018). For instance, in India, recent scholarship has explored the benefits of, and constraints to, connecting solar water pumping systems to the grid (Kumar et al., 2014; Shah et al., 2018; Mantri et al., 2020). This issue has been discussed in a recent post of the Dissensus Forum. Farmers connect their solar irrigation pumps to the grid to sell surplus electricity, gaining an additional source of income and a greater economic return on solar investments.
In contrast, in North Africa, discussions are yet to start about how to frame the expansion of solar panels within a broader perspective, one which would enable limiting risks (especially groundwater depletion) and tapping opportunities (such as "green" production of energy). This would require connections between actors of the agriculture and water sector on the one hand, and of energy on the other hand. Addressing groundwater depletion in North Africa has been found to need: I) better legal and regulatory frameworks (Hartung and Pluschke, 2018) and better implementation of these frameworks; 2) better knowledge of irrigation systems, practices and dynamics of aquifers; and 3) the building of coalitions of actors (Faysse et al., 2011; Kuper et al., 2016). The growing use of solar panels for irrigation requires broadening actions along these three axes but considering the whole agriculture-water-energy nexus. This is urgently needed, as the development of solar panels is likely to expand to all "groundwater economies" in North Africa in coming years.
However, over the past 20 years, initiatives to avert groundwater depletion in this region havebeen rare and often ineffective, and except for a few cases of partial success, fragile. This raises two kinds of questions. First, why did initiatives to face the new challenges related to the expansion of solar panels take place in South Asia but not in North Africa, and what can be learned from the former that would be of interest to develop initiatives in the latter? More generally, is the growing use of solar panels for irrigation in North Africa merely compounding groundwater crises that are now proving to be inescapable given prevailing political economies? Or are there signs that the future can be different from the past, i.e., that initiatives to face groundwater depletion (including the growing use of solar energy) in North Africa can be more than "too little, too late"?
Insaf Mekki, Intissar Ferchichi and Nicolas Faysse
References
Faysse, N., Hartani, T., Frija, A., Tazekrit, I., Zairi, C. and Challouf, A. 2011. Agricultural use of groundwater and management initiatives in the Maghreb: challenges and opportunities for sustainable aquifer exploitation. AFDB Economic Brief, 1-24.
Hartung, H. and Pluschke, L. 2018. The benefits and risks of solar powered irrigation. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Kumar, D., Bassi, N., Narayanamoorthy, A., Sivamohan, M.V.K.2014. The Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus. Lessons from India for development. New York: Routledge.
Kuper, M., Faysse, N., Hammani, A., Hartani, T., Marlet, S., Hamamouche, M. F. and Ameur, F. 2016. Liberation or anarchy? The Janus nature of groundwater use on North Africa's new irrigation frontiers. In Integrated groundwater management (pp. 583-615). Springer, Cham.
Mantri, S. R., Kasibhatla, R. S. and Chennapragada, V. K. B. 2020. Grid-connected vs. off-grid solar water pumping systems for agriculture in India: A comparative study. Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 1-15.
Mekki, I., Ferchichi, I., Taoujouti, N., Faysse, N. and Zaïri, A. A. 2021. Analyse de l'extension des palmeraies oasiennes et de son impact sur les ressources en eau souterraine dans la région de Kébili, sud-ouest de la Tunisie. Annales de l'INRGREF (2021), 22, 123-143.
Shah, T. 2009. Taming the anarchy: Groundwater governance in South Asia. New York: Routledge.
Shah, T., Rajan, A., Rai, G. P., Verma, S. and Durga, N. 2018. Solar pumps and South Asia's energy-groundwater nexus: exploring implications and reimagining its future. Environmental Research Letters, 13(11), 115003.
Photo credit: Douz, Tunisia (by Marcel Kupper)