Ag-DSM: Transforming Agriculture, Improving Lives- A case study on utility led Sustainable Agriculture DSM

To significantly decrease the dangers and consequences of climate change, nations are taking reformative leap to enhance resilience ensuring sustainability in economic development. A well-designed Demand Side Management (DSM) action plan based on comprehensive load research and judicious deployment of emerging technologies assume added relevance in conserving energy and other valuable resources in a country.

Agriculture sector being the most fundamental sector of Indian economy, plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic development of the country. Distribution utilities in India seek to Agriculture DSM (Ag-DSM) for effective utilization of Energy & Water ensuring food security and prosperity. Ag-DSM help reduce the growing electricity demand, reduce or shift peak electricity demand, reduce the burden of subsidy on state governments, promote efficient use of groundwater, increase agricultural productivity, and protect farm incomes.

This video demonstrates how governments resort to Ag-DSM to encourage farmers to use energy-efficient pump sets & best operating practices, shift to renewable pumping systems, choose a more diverse and less water-intensive range of crops & create strong markets for such produce. The video demonstrates the opportunities of sustainable Ag-DSM through a case study done by TERI for Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), in Karnataka with the support from MacArthur Foundation.