The joys of going solar

Several farmers in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts have been using both solar power and water very efficiently – thanks to their water pumps that are powered by the sun.

This is part of an initiative by the agricultural department.

“We have been provided the equipment on the condition that we use only drip irrigation so that not even a drop of water is wasted. Using solar power, we draw water from the bore well and fill up the rocky well and then water the fields at night,” said S. Krishnamurthy, a farmer of Walajahbad, who is currently growing watermelons, papaya, chillies and onions on his land.

The solar powered-pumps have been installed with 50 per cent funding from the National Agriculture Development Programme, 30 per cent from Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and 20 per cent from the respective farmers.

The entire cost, including for digging the borewell, is being covered by the project, explained a source in the Agriculture Department.

Farmers say they are happy that they opted for the solar panels since getting a power connection in remote areas takes a lot of time. “It has been over a year since I applied for an electricity connection,” said a farmer.

Power to pump water

G. Chandrasekar, who has a farm in Nochili village near Thervoykandigai in Tiruvallur district, said that there is enough power to pump 15,000 litres of water per hour to water his fruit-bearing trees.

“Since the solar panels have automatic tracking facility due to which the panels automatically turn towards the sun, we don’t have to turn the panels manually every 2-3 hours. Many more farmers in our village want solar powered pumps,” he said.