The agricultural sector sustains almost 40% of the world’s population. What we also know is that many of the world’s farmers, especially those in remote locations, have no access to energy. Over the last few years, however, off-grid solar products, especially solar water pumps for irrigation, have helped farmers increase crop yields & income. Solar panels (an array of photovoltaic cells) are now extensively used in quite a few places: some instances are in streetlights, for powering water heaters, and many more.
Solar water pumps are like any other conventional water pump except that they run on Solar energy. It’s capable of functioning on a completely independent system without any other source or can be backed by an alternative source like a grid.
There’s one major differentiating factor about the solar water pump from the other solar PV systems, and that is that these do not necessarily require another source of power (grid connection or battery back-up) for its functioning. This helps the farmers in remote locations with erratic to almost no supply of electricity to continue their agricultural duties. The farmers now do not need to depend on grid-connected electricity for their needs, but can be independent of the grid because of solar pumps. Erratic supply and frequent downtime are now things of the past for farmers employing solar water pumps.
Recently the Government of Andhra Pradesh issued a tender for Design, Supply, Installation, Commissioning and Operations and Maintenance for 5 years of Off -Grid Solar PV water pumping systems. Through this tender Mahindra Solarize received an order for 226 pumps. All the allocated 226 solar pumps in this project have been successfully installed well before the given timelines.
