Scaling Solar Irrigation and Water Pumping to Boost Rural Development | March 16, 2022 | 9-10am (EST)
Photo credit: Sunculture.
In the context of finding alternatives to fossil fuels and boosting low-carbon agricultural production, solar irrigation and water pumping have gained traction as a climate-smart options to improve food security, increase income, create jobs, and boost rural development. While solar irrigation and water pumping have reached technology and cost maturity, their roll out and uptake have been rather slow.
Several challenges need to be overcome to harness their full potential while leveraging private sector support to scale-up. This includes addressing end-user capital cost barriers and other affordability challenges, and identifying financing and business modalities that would ensure long-term sustainability of the projects.
In this event, participants from international organizations, universities, non-government organizations, and the private sector discussed pathways to scale up affordable and clean irrigation and water access and provided country-specific and technology development insights. The speakers also focused on project design, implementation, technical quality assurance, and the role of data analytics.
Agenda
Chair: Gabriela Elizondo Azuela, Practice Manager, ESMAP, World Bank
Moderator: Raluca Golumbeanu, TTL, Improving Livelihoods and Human Capital, ESMAP, World Bank
Welcome remarks | Gabriela Elizondo Azuela, Practice Manager, ESMAP, World Bank | 5 min |
Presentation 1: | Solar Water Pumping Program in Bangladesh (Presentation) Mr. Md. Abdullah Al Matin, Manager (Technical), Renewable Energy Projects, IDCOL | 5-7 min |
Presentation 2: | Solar Irrigation Technology for Smallholder Farming Samir Ibrahim, CEO & Co-Founder, SunCulture | 5-7 min |
Presentation 3: | Lessons learned for private-sector scale-up in Ethiopia, Ghana and Mali (Presentation) Nicole Lefore, Director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale, Texas A & M University | 5 min |
Presentation 4: | Solar Irrigation and Water Pumping Quality Assurance Framework (Presentation) Michael Maina, Senior Associate, Research | 5 min |
Demo | Data Analytics: Agrodem model (Presentation) Alexandros Korkovelos, GIS Specialist, World Bank | 2-3 min |
Panel discussion and Q&A |
Moderated panel discussion and Q&A:
What are key challenges in deploying quality solar irrigation and water pumping technologies at scale?
Are there demonstrated business and financing models that can be leveraged by the private sector to reach scale?
What is the role of development partners?
CONTACT: Juliette Besnard
