Efficacy of Solar Powered Water Pumps for Rural Farmers in Odisha; India

Abstract

The inadequate power supply and high fossil fuel costs worsened the general life, water supply and agriculture in rural areas of India. Pumps operated based upon solar energy as source can be appropriate alternative to electrical, and fossil fuel based irrigation pumps for water supply to farms. India has has around 22 million irrigation pumps, of which 43% are diesel engine operated and rest are electric operated. The photovoltaic (PV) technology adopted water pumping system; that uses  solar energy to convert to electrical energy which can run on a DC/ AC motor in a hydraulic pump. The purpose of this study is to present different types of solar water pumping system, technology, environment aspects, efficient design, economic, and application in the rural and remote areas of Odisha. An action research has been adopted by Centurion University at Balasore, Koraput, Khordha to understand the concept and identify research gaps of solar power generators used for irrigation and community water supply systems. The payback period for the solar water pumping systems is about 46 years. The recent Indian policy for adoption of reliable solar water pumping systems isalso discussed toidentify the potential research aerena..