Auroville Consulting has completed the installation of a smart irrigation and energy control system at Buddha Garden. This includes a solar PV system and energy storage, a battery monitoring system, automated irrigation control, humidity sensors, water flow sensors, an electronic rain gauge and an ICT communication system for data collection and communication.

This work is part of a wider research project titled Smart Control Optimisation of Renewable Resources (SCORRES) funded by Innovate UK. The main objective of SCORRES is to develop financially viable, robust, location specific irrigation systems for the Indian agricultural sector. The system will be designed to deliver ‘right-time, right-volume’ irrigation to farms, reducing water & energy consumption, increasing crop yields & food nutrient content and improving soil condition. The “smart” part of the system is ICT software, which designs, forecasts and controls the crop-specific irrigation. A water balance model uses crop information combined with soil moisture data from sensors and weather forecasting to control solenoid valves, which activate the irrigation.

The weather forecasting includes rain, solar radiation, wind and temperature feeding information to the water balance model. Self-learning algorithms improve the irrigation forecasts to respond to crop needs. The ICT system also optimises the solar PVs and batteries to energise solar pumps and irrigation delivery. The project develops clean technology that addresses the soil-water-energy-food nexus with reduced water and energy consumption of up to 80%. Indian agriculture is currently responsible for 22% and 85% of India’s total electricity and water consumption respectively.

We would like to show our gratitude to our project partners Heriot Watt University, Findhorn Foundation College, Scene Connect, Auraventi (all UK), and Auroville Centre for Scientific Research. Also, a big thank you to the team of Auroville Electrical Service, Sunlit Future and Selvam for their dedicated work in making this happen.

Contact Auroville Consulting at [email protected] for more details on the project, or to collaborate.