Rahimafrooz plans to take solar pumps countrywide

Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Limited demonstrated a solar-powered
irrigation pump to government officials yesterday as part of its plan
to embark on installing such devices countrywide. Rahimafrooz
launched a 10- horse-power water pump in Kaishar Char village in
Savar, which could pump out five-lakh-litre water a day using
sunlight. It can save one-litre diesel an hour. The renewable energy
company demonstrated the pump after Bangladesh Agriculture
Development Corporation (BADC) had sought to see such demonstrations
by the private firms to examine the financial viability to deploy
solar pumps for irrigation across the country. After the function,
Niaz Rahim, chairman of Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy, said the
initial cost of installing the solar pump was Tk 30 lakh and is
warranted to serve for 20 years without requiring any running or
maintenance cost. Even if the installation cost of a solar pump is
high, there is no maintenance cost as such, which makes it
cost-effective over the years it will operate. A 10-
horse-power-diesel engine consumes 1 , 350 litres of diesel a year
and requires over Tk 3 lakh in total costs to run for one year,
which does not include government subsidy on diesel. But running a
solar pump for one year costs only Tk 1.5 lakh. Talking to reporters
at the agrarian village, Nazmun Nahar, the company's marketing and
sales executive, said the pump would reduce 36 tonnes of greenhouse
gas emissions a year. Through carbon trading, a pump owner will be
able to earn $10 against reducing each tonne of gas emission, she
said. In a briefing on the project site, Rahim said the initial cost
of setting up a solar energy pump is high, which is not possible for
farmers to afford. But cooperatives and government financing can be a
solution, he emphasised. In Boro season, 1.33 million pump irrigate
paddy fields in the country, with 80 percent run by diesel that
consume 800 million litres of diesel a day, according to the company
statistics. The government provides Tk 5 ,400 million in cash
subsidy on diesel-run pumps a year, according to company statistics.
But solar pumps will be able to save a huge amount of public money,
company officials said. On the issue, Dr SM Nazmul Islam, chairman of
BADC, said the government would examine financial benefits of such
pumps, but added that the initial installation cost is high. About
the demonstration by Rahimafrooz, he said: "Responding to our call,
some other companies have also installed solar pumps to demonstrate
their efficiencies." The company pioneered solar pumps in the country
in 2004 and has since sold 10 pumps mainly to government and
nongovernmental organisations.