Productive Use of Solar Water Pumping System With Universal Solar Pump Controller
Abstract
This paper details the opportunity for additional productive uses of solar water pumping systems (SWPS) by replacing a normal controller with a Universal Solar Pump Controller (USPC). The USPC helps in fulfilling the need for power for running many loads in addition to powering SWPS. Owing to its potential, it is already part of the ongoing PM-KUSUM scheme of India, the largest in irrigation space. It also complements the fact that the utilization of off-grid SWPS is traditionally low. This study intends to assess the existing USPC ecosystem, identify gaps and challenges, and draw out possible strategies and mechanisms for increasing USPC acceptability and its deployment. The paper also entails the details on the assessment of key parameters impacting the adoption of USPC. A tool has been developed to quantify the potential of utilizing the available excess energy generated during non-irrigation hours of SWPs for other applications and analyzed them in 50 districts across different states in India.
Keywords
Swps, Uspc, Pm-kusum, Excess energy, Irrigation