Power and automation technology provider ABB India hopes its newly launched solar pumps will help the company penetrate into rural markets. The company says its solar pumps can replace the conventional water pumps run by diesel or electricity, thereby, cutting farmers’ power expenses.

The pump will make irrigation cheaper for farmers in the dry-land areas, says a company official. So far, 200 pump units have been installed in States such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

“We have received encouraging response from the users of these pumps. Solar pumps reduce the use of costly diesel. Also, such pumps are ideal for the remote off-grid areas, where there is no electricity. We expect our sales to grow by 20-25 per cent over the next couple of years,” Ajay Kawadikar, Vice-President, Country Solar ISI Manager, ABB India, told Business Line .

The solar pump market has big potential in the rural areas, where irrigation constitutes a significant portion of cost of cultivation. Already multinationals such as Schneider Electric, Toshiba and some unorganized Chinese companies are present in the segment. The pumps come with both single-phase and three-phase motors, which would run with the power generated from the solar panels.

The company assembles the pumps at the company’s production unit in Bangalore.

“We make the entire product chain required for solar pumps except the panels and cables,” said Kawadikar. A farmer can recover the cost of the unit from two crop cycles, he added.

On an average, a solar pump unit would cost around ₹4 lakh, including the solar panels.

However, the units are eligible for subsidies from the Central and State governments, which work out to be around 50 per cent.

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