Solar Power and Regenerative Agriculture in Burma

Myanmar is a country where a high percentage of the population depends on agriculture for their income. In the South, rainfall is abundant during the monsoon season and rice is easily grown. However, in the central region, and especially the ominously-named "Dry Zone", water is a much scarcer commodity. The monsoon rains are much less prevalent here and there is a high demand for water pumps for irrigation. Usually the pumping set-up is a large stationary diesel engine with a belt drive to a crude water pump. Although noisy and smoky, these units are still expensive for the average farmer and the engine usually needs constant maintenance.

Seya Paul (*), a good friend of Solar Roots and a tireless activist for justice and sustainable living, operates a demonstration organic farm in Pyin Oo Lwin. He has often asked me about the possibility of irrigating his farm using solar power, but I wasn't able to find 12V DC pumps on the local market. Of course, I could import solar pumps from Europe at great cost, but this is not a viable solution for the Myanmar farmers. My general philosophy is to buy what is available locally, even if the quality is not high, because at least spare parts are available and in time I hope to find Myanmar importers who are willing to import higher quality solar pumps from China. After some searching, I found two 12V DC pumps and tested them for efficiency and durability. Whereas the slick and costly European solar pumps can run directly from the solar panels, theses cheap Chinese pumps ran very, very hot when connected that way. The solar power needed to be "conditioned", that is, smoothed out, to be closer to the operating range of the pump. The answer was to put a battery into the system, that way, the PV panel is always charging the battery and the battery is always supplying regulated power to the pump.

Previously, Seya Paul had been using an old diesel engine and belt-driven pump that created a foul and noxious smoke storm whenever it was started up. His water source is a hand-dug well about 20ft deep and his land rises an additional 20ft at the high end. This was quite a challenge for our little solar pump. However, by putting the solar panel on a tracker, (a frame on a pole), we are able to follow the sun in it's path across the sky and get the maximum output from the panel. Seya Paul reckons that the solar pump will be able to handle most of his irrigation for most of the year - this is a huge leap forward. Now, the next step is to locate a manufacturer of good quality solar pumps in China and to find a Myanmar business to import them - wish me luck!

(*) Seya Paul is an invented name to protect the identity of this recipeint.