”There is a huge potential for solar pumps in our country. With the push from the government toward solar pumps, diesel based pump sets in the country can be largely replaced with a solar based solution,” says Sanjeev Sirsi, Head -Water Utility, Grundfos Pumps India Pvt. Ltd.

 In today’s world, sustainable and renewable energy sources need to be encouraged to find their use on larger scale in practice. This would help built a long-term and reliable solution and at the same time it has the ability to prove to be environment friendly as well.

Recently some special provisions for solar power sector have been offered in budget. Generally solar power pumps are considered to be a good solution for agricultural activities. Therefore it becomes interesting to observe how the budget push for solar power drives the field of agricultural pumps.

Being optimistic about the steps taken by government, Mr Sirsi analyses the overall picture including probable opportunities for solar power in pumps.

Great initiative
Keeping in mind the current power scenario in the country, the move to give impetus to renewable energy and solar power in particular is a step in the right direction. The allocation of 400 crores for 1 lakh solar pumping systems is a great initiative.

This will help save power and diesel subsidy. It will go a long way towards making India self-sufficient in its power requirement.

Grundfos products for agriculture sector
“Grundfos India is one of the forerunners in sustainable pump solutions and has a wide range of solar pump offerings,” informs Mr Sirsi. “Since 2001, Grundfos has sold more than 10,000 solar pumps and this has been a positive impact on the socio economic lives of so many villagers throughout India.”

The solar submersible pumps family of SQFlex range (Built in controllers and protection working on AC/DC supply), SP with external AC/DC controller (Up to 25HP) and the solar surface mounting pumps – CR flex range are an environmental friendly water supply solutions and could be considered as a revolution in remote water supply and agriculture.

Future scope
It would be interesting to analyse the future scope of solar-power driven agricultural pumps in India where over 700,000 villages do not have access to water. An off-grid, self-sustaining solar pumping solution is the best probable way to provide water to millions in remote areas where the power supply is non-existent or unreliable.

Solar pumping solutions have helped in confronting poverty alleviation, livelihood creation, food security, water availability and access, provision of education and healthcare, energy security and environmental protection.

“There is a huge potential for solar pumps in our country,” believes Mr Sirsi. “With the push from the government towards solar pumps, diesel based pump sets in the country can be largely replaced with a solar based solution.”

India has an installed base of 25 million pump sets, with 18 million electric pump sets and around 7 million diesel pump sets. However, the actual market potential that can be tapped would depend on local factors like water table, cropping pattern, weather conditions etc. The total agriculture based solar powered pump sets market is estimated to be around 1,500 – 1,600 MW over the next five years, through targeted replacement of diesel based pump sets.