One lakh solar pumps to be installed across the country

New Delhi, Jul 24 (KNN)  The government is planning to install as many as one lakh solar pumps to be used for irrigation and drinking water purposes across the country.

This was stated by the Minister of state for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal in Lok Sabha today.

He said a total of 11626 solar pumps have already been installed in the various parts of the country till March-31.
 
A total of 14788.45 lakh rupees has been sanctioned for solar pumps under “Off grid and Decentralized Solar Applications’’ scheme of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to 12 states.

Solar powered water pumps can deliver drinking water as well as water for livestock or irrigation purposes.  They are especially useful in small scale or community based irrigation; as large scale irrigation requires large volumes of water that in turn require a large solar PV array.   (KNN/ES)