The Story of Solar Water Conservancy in Indus River Basin
Source：SolartechDate：2020-09-17
Pakistan is a country with a long history. The land in the Indus River Basin is fertile. It is one of the earliest River Basin civilizations to realize irrigation and farming in the world.
The main stream and tributaries of the Indus River are the most important agricultural irrigation water sources in Pakistan. However, since the river water supply is almost obtained in the upper reaches of the river basin, and the main part is alpine ice and snow melt water, the rainwater supply is not very rich, seasonal rain only occurs from July to September each year. Due to the tropical desert climate in the middle and lower reaches of the Indus River, the climate is relatively dry, and the terrain on the plain is flat, which results in not only few surface water flowing into these areas, but also serious evaporation and leakage.
Therefore, in the middle and lower reaches of the Indus River Plain, where the water level is high and the canal system is difficult to reach, the agricultural irrigation water mainly relies on tube wells to extract groundwater. According to relevant data statistics, in order to utilize groundwater, about 1.3 million tube wells have been installed in Pakistan. And this kind of tube wells are still being excavated and used in newly developed areas suitable for farming. However, it is need to provide sufficient power for driving submersible pumps which are suitable for the tube wells, then the groundwater can be extracted from the tube well. Under the condition of no reliable and stable power supply from the power grid, the pumps in more than 80% of the tube wells are powered by diesel engine. Huge oil expenses, high after-sales and maintenance costs have increased the burden of farmers. The government has to provide a considerable amount of financial subsidies to support farmers every year.
At present, the population engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry accounts for about 60% of the total population in Pakistan. It has become one of the most important and urgent problems for Pakistan government to provide stable and reliable water for production and living of these groups.
Fortunately, Pakistan is rich in solar energy resources, and the national solar radiation is about 4.5-7.0 kWh/m2/day, of which most areas are around 6.0 kWh/ m2/day. This provides Pakistan with unique conditions to develop and promote solar water conservancy industries such as solar agricultural irrigation, solar domestic water supply and solar livestock breeding.
As early as 2011, Shenzhen Solartech began to promote the original solar pumping technology and advanced solar pumping system products in Pakistan. Shenzhen Solartech has been providing safe and reliable water solutions for agricultural irrigation, domestic water and livestock feeding in Pakistan's areas with power shortage or unstable power supply for nearly 10 years from the design of system scheme and provision of system equipment to the completion of system construction, installation and commissioning with local partners in Pakistan.
5.5kW Solar Pumping System – Lahore
3.7kW Solar Pumping System – Kashmor
5.5kW Solar Pumping System –Karachi
3.7kW Solar Pumping System –Peshawar
18.5kW Solar Pumping System –Quetta
Practical application cases show that the solar water-saving irrigation system based on solar pumping system can provide irrigation facilities using clean energy for rural non grid areas in Pakistan, which not only reduces the demand for diesel and other fossil fuels, but also achieves the purpose of high-efficiency water-saving. Solar water-saving irrigation system is gradually replacing the diesel pump irrigation system, becoming an innovative and environment-friendly solar water conservancy industry solution for Pakistan's agricultural economy. Solar water conservancy industry will also become a new driving force to promote the development of Pakistan's Indus River Basin.
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