News Details

Move to install 2000 solar pumps for irrigation$25m project targets 16MW green power


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 The Ministry of Power plans to install 2,000 solar-based irrigation pumps across the country in the new fiscal year 2012-13 with support from the climate change mitigation and adaptation fund (CCMAF).

“We have planned to install 2,000 systems of solar-based irrigation pumps. Each pump will have 8 kilowatt load capacity and will be capable of lifting 500,000 litres of water per day,” said a senior official at the Power Division who deals with renewable energy.

According to the official, the Power Division will derive a fund of US$ 25 million from the CCMAF. The government will receive the fund from international donor agencies.

The official said the proposed 2,000 solar-based irrigation pumps will generate a total 16MW of ‘green’ electricity.

The plan is a part of the government’s mega plan to generate 500MW solar power by 2015.

The Power Division will disburse the fund to the irrigation pump operators or private sector entrepreneurs who will set up such pumps for the rural farmers.

“Our main target is to provide technical and financial aid to these projects so that the farmers can get irrigation water at cheaper or same rate that they are now getting from diesel-run pumps,” the official told the news agency.

Sources said the Power Division will involve the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), a specialised organisation, which remained involved for long in implementing solar home systems.

Under a World Bank-supported programme, the IDCOL has so far installed 1.2 million solar home systems and also plans to install another one million systems within a year.

Sources said the main concentration area of the solar-based irrigation pumps project will be those locations where the farmers grow three crops a year. — UNB

[ Metropolis ] 2012-07-02