Agricultural Sector Adoption of PEI Pumps Market Study

California’s agricultural sector is a major consumer of both water and energy, with over 68,000 electric pumps consuming approximately 10,560 gigawatt hours annually. Despite federal mandates and the potential for substantial energy and cost savings, adoption of energy-efficient technologies such as Pump Energy Index (PEI)-rated pumps remains limited. Key barriers include low awareness, technical exclusions, and economic constraints, all of which hinder progress toward California’s decarbonization goals. This study explores the slow market uptake of PEI-rated clean water pumps in California agricultural applications. Although PEI standards have been federally mandated since 2020, many commonly used pump types—such as large vertical turbine pumps—are excluded from these regulations. The research aims to identify adoption barriers, assess market readiness, and propose strategies to accelerate implementation. A three-phase methodology was used: literature review and stakeholder mapping, survey outreach to five stakeholder groups: manufacturers, energy efficiency programmers, engineers, contractors, and end-users; and data analysis and synthesis. A total of 24 verified responses were analyzed to evaluate awareness, technical and economic barriers, and programmatic challenges. An energy savings interpretation of PEI-rated pumps was presented through a lifecycle cost analysis. Key findings include: PEI-rated pumps are perceived to cost 15–50% more than conventional pumps, incentives currently cover only 1–5% of project costs, awareness of PEI ratings is low across all stakeholder groups, and many agricultural pump types, such as large vertical turbine pumps, are excluded from PEI standards. The study recommends expanding the incentive structure to cover at least 25% of project costs, broadening incentive coverage, revising existing rebate structures, simplifying rebate processes, enhancing stakeholder education, and improving product availability. Replacing a pump with a PEI of 1.00 with one rated at 0.90 can yield 10% annual energy savings. While the findings are specific to California agricultural pump applications, they offer insights applicable to other sectors facing pump energy efficiency challenges.