Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

The purpose of the project is for smallholder farmers to irrigate, cultivate, and generate income year-round using efficient, portable solar-powered irrigation pumps. The project was inspired by hundreds of conversations with farmers and NGOs in eastern India, where water is available but lifting it is expensive. Most farmers are either engaging in rain-fed irrigation or 1 irrigated crop, usually by renting a kerosene or diesel pump. With some farmers reporting irrigation contributing up to 20-40% of agriculture costs, irrigation keeps farmers from cultivating and earning throughout the year, especially in the summer season. We have developed a patented solar-powered pump with market-leading efficiency, allowing us to deliver performance that farmers demand with a smaller panel footprint. Less solar means a more affordable product that does not require subsidy, and a portable system that allows farmers to secure their asset at night and to utilize it in multiple fragmented plots.

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How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

Replaces/avoids GHGs (e.g., projects that replace sources of GHGs, such as the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, transport, or other energy uses)

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Our work is centered around unelectrified and under-electrified communities where the awareness and adoption of solar energy is low. In these tribal belts of smallholder farmers, the conventional means for powering farm mechanization and production is through diesel and kerosene. Furthermore, many government schemes including capital subsidies for solar pumps are not reaching these farmers in part because they do not have the required papers and connections to access the schemes. Lastly, these communities are being disproportionately affected by climate change as weather events (such as hail) and monsoon rains become less predictable and risk their crops and livelihoods. By reaching these communities in partnership with livelihood organizations and focusing on high-value vegetable crop irrigation and cultivation, we are introducing agriculture value-chain stakeholders into the climate movement. By delivering an easy-to-use, plug-and-play solar pump that is positioned as a consumer durable product available in retail markets, we are matching the position and displacing the use of conventional kerosene and diesel pumps and empowering underrepresented stakeholders, particularly women smallholder farmers, to be clean energy asset owners and promoters.

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Mission Statement:

Our organization is a social enterprise registered as a private limited in India since December 2016 and recognized as a startup by the Indian government. Our headquarters is in Pune, where we undertake product design, development and manufacturing. Our primary working areas are in the India states of Jharkhand, Odisha, and Assam, but we now have our solar pump units deployed with partners across 14 Indian states total and in2 countries outside of India (Malawi, Nepal).