Project Overview
Project Description
Kheyti’s mission is to democratize access to climate-smart technologies for smallholder farmers in India. One of Kheyti’s core product goals for 2025 is integrating grid-connected solar panels on top of the greenhouses, to help farmers maximize the utilization of their limited land. Kheyti aims to integrate agrivoltaics (combining solar technology with farming systems) into their existing greenhouse model, this will further amplify the impact, creating a sustainable and scalable solution for the challenges faced by smallholder farmers.
Kheyti has partnered with IIT-Madras for the technical support and scope of the project. This integrated technology solution will increase the reliability and diversity of farmer incomes, reduce the challenges of erratic power supply and high energy costs, and increase resilience to climate change with a renewable approach. Through this project, Kheyti aims to receive fellow support on some of the areas listed below for the technical feasibility & design components of the project:
- System design: Develop a comprehensive design that integrates solar panel installation with greenhouse structures. Focus on maximizing sunlight for both solar energy generation and crop growth, while keeping in mind land characteristics, including soil quality, water availability, and sunlight exposure
- Solar technology: Select appropriate solar technologies (e.g., bifacial panels) that can efficiently generate energy while allowing sufficient light for crops.
- Greenhouse design and configuration: Choose and design greenhouse concepts (e.g., high tunnel, glass) based on crop requirements, local climate conditions, solar technology integration, and increased incomes
Impact
Fellow’s contribution to this project will support Kheyti’s goals of scaling the core product, Greenhouse Rakshak, to more rural, smallholder farmers in India by expanding their product design and services to solar microgrids. In 2023, Kheyti’s work with the E4C Fellow contributed to scaling the impact from 1000 farmers to 3000 farmers. Kheyti is currently serving 7000 farmers in 7 states across India. In five years, they will reach and impact 50,000 people in 10,000 farmer families. One of the goals is to reach more beneficiaries, support farmers in their transition to climate-smart farming and access to renewable, affordable, and reliable energy, and reduce climate impacts on the most vulnerable communities in India, i.e. smallholder, rural farmers.
By integrating solar technology within the existing product portfolio (greenhouses, drip irrigation systems, rain tunnels, etc.), Kheyti aims to increase farmer’s income by up to $1,000+ per year, through improved agriculture, energy cost savings, and surplus income from local microgrids, increase the stability of food and energy, two key components of rural livelihoods, and reduce the carbon footprint of smallholder farming, contributing to a more sustainable agricultural ecosystem.
Eligibility Criteria
Skills / Experience:
- Required:
- Energy Systems Design + Analysis
- Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
- Manufacturing/Design for Manufacturing
- Desired:
- Structural Design and Analysis
- QA/QC
Software Proficiency:
- Required: N/A
- Desired:
- Fusion 360
- Autodesk Inventor
Discipline:
- Mechanical engineering, Agriculture, Electrical engineering, or related
Additional Skills:
- Background in engineering fields such as renewable energy, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or agricultural engineering would be critical
- Familiarity with agrivoltaics or similar hybrid energy-agriculture systems would be an asset
Preferred Fellow Local Experience (All projects can be completed remotely):
- Contextual knowledge and local insight into challenges faced by smallholder farmers in India would be an asset
Preferred Timezone (when the Fellow should be available for meetings):
- Compatibility with UTC+5.5 (India), Indian Standard Time
