Solar photovoltaic pump sets as a substitute for conventional pump sets

The growing energy demand for feeding the ever-increasing population has triggered the issue of energy security. This has made it essential to utilize the untapped potential of renewable resources. Punjab, India, has great potential of generating solar energy. In the present study, the cost of running electrical and diesel tube wells has been estimated along with the cost of replacement of the conventional pump sets with solar photovoltaic (SPV) pump sets. It was found that the cost of running the electric and diesel-operated pump sets for shallow and medium tube wells was almost Rs 73.9 million per year. If these are replaced by SPV pump sets, then installation cost of the latter is Rs 212.71 billion without subsidy. According to the Government scheme, the farmer’s share is Rs 96.18 billion and the Government share is Rs 132.71 billion. Further, with replacements using the solar pumping system, green energy will be available and additional energy can be released into the grid system. This might be especially true for a state like Punjab, where 30–35% electricity is consumed in the agricultural sector for irrigating about 72% of the total irrigated area (99%) through groundwater pumping. The cost of SPV pump sets is expected to reduce as it is gaining popularity. Also, with the advancement of techno­logy, electronic goods are becoming cheaper and compact