Feasibility assessment of photovoltaic pumping for irrigation in West Bengal, India.

Erratic power supply and frequent grid failures are typical in most part of rural India. Farmers have a diesel pump or diesel run generator as an alternative to minimize the risk of crop failure due to discontinued water supply. As an alternative to expensive rural electricity grids and inefficient conversion of fossil fuels, renewable energies can contribute to solving this problem. This study was conducted to determine the potential of Photovoltaic pumping system (PVPS) in West Bengal. Primary data was collected by conducting survey and secondary data was collected through literature review and government data. The designing and simulation of the system was performed using computer software ‘DAST PVPS’ and CropWat computer code is used to calculate the crop water requirement (CWR) based on FAO modified Penman-Monteith approach. The results showed a high potential of PVPS and in the last 10 to 15 years technical developments have increased significantly and the cost has fallen dramatically. However, still one of the major barriers for large scale dissemination of PVPS in India is the high initial cost compared to the present system i.e. diesel pumps.