Insights from Farmer-Managed Decentralized Solar Irrigation Systems
2026-04-10 • Computers and Society
Computers and SocietyHuman-Computer Interaction
AI summaryⓘ
The authors studied solar-powered irrigation systems used by farmers in remote areas and found that maintaining these systems is tough. Farmers use WhatsApp to share daily energy data with each other, helping them spot problems and learn from peers. This shows that messaging apps act as informal networks supporting group problem-solving for energy systems. The authors suggest building future tools that combine these social practices with formal monitoring to help communities maintain and understand their solar equipment better.
solar irrigationsystem maintenancedistributed energyWhatsApppeer comparisoninformal digital infrastructuregrid-connected solarcollective sensemakingagricultural energycitizen science
Authors
Arnab Paul Choudhury, Rahul Rathod, Aryan Yadav
Abstract
Solar irrigation systems are increasingly deployed in rural regions, yet their distributed and remote deployment makes maintenance challenging for farmers. While formal monitoring processes and applications exist, they often fall short in practice. We present insights from grid-connected solar irrigation schemes that incentivize farmers to feed energy to the grid, focusing on how farmers maintain their systems. We found that farmers face multiple challenges but are also devising strategies, including the appropriation of WhatsApp to share daily generation data with peers and compare performance across installations to identify potential system anomalies. Our findings highlight how messaging platforms function as informal digital infrastructures enabling collective sensemaking around distributed energy systems. We discuss implications for designing agricultural energy technologies that support peer comparison, contextual interpretation, and community-driven maintenance, framing these as a socio-technical platform. Finally, we outline directions for future work integrating such practices with formal monitoring tools and explore their potential to support citizen science initiatives in environmental sensing.