From now on, farmers need not wait on the corridors of Tangedco offices to check the waitlist of free power applicants to meet their irrigation needs as the Department of Agricultural Engineering has started establishing solar power pumps at farms. It has so far established 60 solar power pumps in the district.
Each solar-powered pump unit, including solar panel, is estimated at cost about Rs. 5 lakh and the State government would provide 80 per cent subsidy.
The units will also address the challenge of power constraints faced by Tangedco to a certain extent. Farmers will get free power throughout the day without any break.
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The solar pump sets can be used in bore wells, open wells and also surface waterbodies. Ultimately, the solar-power will ensure farmers energy security throughout the year.
“We have been assisting farmers to establish 5 HP AC solar pumps to pump water from bore wells. In case of open well, the solar pump can pump water up to 80 feet, and in case of bore well, it can pump water for more than 140 feet. Solar panel in each farm has the capacity to produce 4,800 watts of power every day. Generation will commence around 9 a.m. and continue till 5 p.m.,” according to E. Rajendran, Executive Engineer, Department of Agricultural Engineering.
The panels were designed in such a way to provide uninterrupted power supply to operate water pumps continuously for five hours, he added.
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Solar energy was cleanest and most abundant renewable energy source available free of cost.
Effective tapping would help farmers get inexhaustible supply of energy, said Collector T.N. Hariharan, while inspecting a farm at Thottanuthu that has solar pump sets recently.
Solar-powered pumps would also help farmers keep the environment clean. “We had been motivating them to install solar power pumps,” he added.
“We need not struggle during night hours to irrigate farms, facing threat from snakes and other insects. With the continuous availability of power, we can finish all works by evening. Power tripping, the biggest menace to the farmers, had also been eliminated,” said the farmers.
The State government had distributed 2,000 solar-powered agriculture pump sets at subsidised rates to farmers throughout the State last year.