A Study on the Present Scenario of Solar Irrigation in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh has a primarily agrarian economy. Irrigation plays a very important role in our agriculture as well as on economy. During dry season, irrigation of the whole country faces an acute crisis due to load shedding of 1400 MW [1]. As Bangladesh has good solar resources, with high availability during the peak irrigation season, therefore, solar pumping of water for irrigation is an innovative and environment-friendly solution for its largely agro-based economy. Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL) is providing financial support to solar irrigation. Already 450 irrigation pumps have been installed by IDCOL in different divisions of Bangladesh. In this paper, 450 project’s data has been analyzed and the findings are shown by different graphs. Different division’s radiation, water-head and required water are mainly focused in the analysis which will be very useful for upcoming irrigation projects. To accomplish the analysis on solar irrigation, several field visits were done at Poradaho, Kushtia, Bangladesh. This is a project of Bright Green Energy Foundation (BGEF) and financed by IDCOL. Numerous important prospects of solar irrigation besides Diesel-based Irrigation in Bangladesh have come out from this comparative study.