1Department of Economics, Pabna University of Science and Technology, Pabna, Bangladesh
2Institute of Bangladesh Studies, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
3Department of Economics, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
BibTex Citation Data :
@article{IJRED38469, author = {Md. Tawhidul Islam and Md. Elias Hossain}, title = {Economic Feasibility of Solar Irrigation Pumps: A Study of Northern Bangladesh}, journal = {International Journal of Renewable Energy Development}, volume = {11}, number = {1}, year = {2022}, keywords = {Economic feasibility; Environmental benefit; Internal Rate of Return; Northern Bangladesh; Solar irrigation pump (SIP)}, abstract = { Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world. With a total population of around 165 million, the country has constantly been facing food security challenges and other problems. Therefore, increasing food production is one of the feasible solutions to this challenge, and proper agricultural land use for food production bears critical importance. Ad o pting sustainable irrigation systems and viable technologies would be vital for ensuring efficient use of agricultural land in Bangladesh to safeguard the country's food security. Solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) can be a reliable option in this regard. However, B angladesh has experienced a prolonged growth rate of SIP installation in the last decade. The country has set a target to install 10000 SIPs by the year 2027, albeit it is a tiny share of the 1.57 million conventional irrigation pumps operating in the country . This s tudy aims to investigate the economic feasibility of the SIPs operating in the northern region of Bangladesh in terms of estimating financial feasibility and environmental benefits . The study is mainly based on primary data collected from the users of SIPs from two Upazilas of Dinajpur and Rangpur districts. A total of 14 SIPs , categorized into large, medium, and small pumps , are selected randomly from the available SIPs in the study areas. The financial analysis reveals that small SIPs are the most profitable option (20% IRR) for investment. Large SIPs are moderately profitable (10% IRR), and their profitability can be improved (10.50% IRR) by introducing additional uses of solar energy. However, medium SIPs are the worst (5% IRR) option for investment. In the study areas, large and medium SIPs are designed for the 'fees for service model', and small SIPs are designed for the 'fees for ownership model'. It is found that the 'fees for ownership model' is more profitable than the 'fees for service model'. Moreover, the net environmental benefit for all SIPs is found almost equal to the given subsidy for installing them . Also , the net environmental benefit per kilowatt peak (kWp) is highest for the small SIPs. This paper recommends that additional use (e.g., husking, grinding, supply excess electricity to grid, and so on) of solar energy can improve the profitability of investment on SIPs . Further, the government should continue giving grants for installing SIPs and promote 'fees for ownership model' ( small SIPs ) for personal use . It would speed up the dissemination rate of SIPs and help increase the country's agricultural production and improve the environmental conditions. }, pages = {1--13} doi = {10.14710/ijred.2022.38469}, url = {https://ejournal.undip.ac.id/index.php/ijred/article/view/38469} }
Refworks Citation Data :
Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world. With a total population of around 165 million, the country has constantly been facing food security challenges and other problems. Therefore, increasing food production is one of the feasible solutions to this challenge, and proper agricultural land use for food production bears critical importance. Adopting sustainable irrigation systems and viable technologies would be vital for ensuring efficient use of agricultural land in Bangladesh to safeguard the country's food security. Solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) can be a reliable option in this regard. However, Bangladesh has experienced a prolonged growth rate of SIP installation in the last decade. The countryhas set a target to install 10000 SIPs by the year 2027, albeit it is a tiny share of the 1.57 million conventional irrigation pumps operating in the country. This study aims to investigate the economic feasibility of the SIPs operating in the northern region of Bangladesh in terms of estimating financial feasibility and environmental benefits. The study is mainly based on primary data collected from the users of SIPs from two Upazilas of Dinajpur and Rangpur districts. A total of 14 SIPs, categorized into large, medium, and small pumps, are selected randomly from the available SIPs in the study areas. The financial analysis reveals that small SIPs are the most profitable option (20% IRR) for investment. Large SIPs are moderately profitable (10% IRR), and their profitability can be improved (10.50% IRR) by introducing additional uses of solar energy. However, medium SIPs are the worst (5% IRR) option for investment. In the study areas, large and medium SIPs are designed for the 'fees for service model', and small SIPs are designed for the 'fees for ownership model'. It is found that the 'fees for ownership model' is more profitable than the 'fees for service model'. Moreover, the net environmental benefit for all SIPs is found almost equal to the given subsidy for installing them. Also, the net environmental benefit per kilowatt peak (kWp) is highest for the small SIPs. This paper recommends that additional use (e.g., husking, grinding, supply excess electricity to grid, and so on) of solar energy can improve the profitability of investmenton SIPs. Further, the government should continue giving grants for installing SIPs and promote 'fees for ownership model' (small SIPs) for personal use. It would speed up the dissemination rate of SIPs and help increase the country's agricultural production and improve the environmental conditions.
Article Metrics:
Last update:
Does Solar-Powered Irrigation System Usage Increase the Technical Efficiency of Crop Production? New Insights from Rural Areas
A place in the sun: Farmers' co-benefits from solar irrigation in Bangladesh
The Influence of Temperature and Irradiance on Performance of the photovoltaic panel in the Middle of Iraq
Socio-Economic and Environmental Analyses of Solar Irrigation Systems for Sustainable Agricultural Production
Solar empowerment in agriculture: investigating photovoltaic energy’s impact on efficiency among wheat farmers
Evaluation of solar irrigation system under multipurpose use in the coastal region of Bangladesh
Adoption impact of solar based irrigation facility by water-scarce northwestern areas farmers in Bangladesh: Evidence from panel data analysis
Last update: 2024-11-06 01:24:26
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Articles are freely available to both subscribers and the wider public with permitted reuse.
All articles published Open Access will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download. We are continuously working with our author communities to select the best choice of license options: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA). Authors and readers can copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, but they must give appropriate credit (cite to the article or content), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
International Journal of Renewable Energy Development (ISSN:2252-4940) published by CBIORE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.