Solar-powered water pumps are one of the most important ways for off-grid communities to access water cheaply and cleanly. Standards are needed to keep this market growing and the IEC is working on the right specifications.
Solar PV pumps help communities access water in remote areas without an electricity grid.
In a small village in Ethiopia, women and girls had to walk miles to collect water from remote ponds and rivers. Waste of time that could not be spent in school, which took its toll on the education of younger women. But this all changed when UNICEF, together with partner CARE, installed a solar-powered water system that serves more than 6,500 people. This is just one of many examples of solar photovoltaics helping remote communities access water.
Water scarcity can increasingly become a problem in modern cities (read: When cities dry up: tackling water scarcity) but there are areas of the world where this has always been a luxury and is becoming more so as global warming increases. According to the United NationsIn 2022, 2.2 billion people did not have access to safely managed drinking water. Four out of five people who did not have at least basic drinking water supplies in 2022 lived in rural areas. Much more needs to be done to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 6.SDG6), which aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
From diesel to solar PV water pumps
One of the ways to ensure that communities living in water-stressed rural areas have access to that vital resource has always been water pumps. The first water pumps date back to the ancient Greeks. Some historians I believe the invention arose from the need to remove the bilge water from the Syracusia, a warship that also carried goods and provided select luxury voyages.
Whatever the reason, the devices have been in use for centuries and in recent decades have relied on diesel generators or the fossil fuel-dependent electrical grid for power. But in recent years, solar-powered water pumps have been gaining ground at an astonishing rate, especially in sun-drenched areas where water and electricity are difficult to access. Solar water pumps use PV panels to convert sunlight into electricity, which then powers a pump that draws water from groundwater or other sources such as lakes and rivers.
This is evident from figures published by a consultancy firm Market research futurethe solar water pump market was valued at approximately $28 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach a value of approximately $52 billion by the end of 2032, nearly doubling in less than a decade.
Advantages of solar pumps include cost
One of the obvious advantages of solar water pumps is that they do not produce any CO2 emissions, unlike traditional water pumps. These are powered by diesel engines in remote areas without an electricity grid, which emit a large amount of greenhouse gases. When water pumps are used in cities, they are connected to the electricity grid, which also often relies on fossil fuels. Switching to solar energy helps communities meet each other UN SDG 13that needs to take urgent action to combat climate change and its consequences.
Other advantages of the solar PV devices include the cost: they are usually much cheaper to run than diesel pumps, which depend on the price of the fossil fuel. A example of how costs play an important role can be found in the state of Gujarat in India. There, salt farmers traditionally relied on diesel pumps to extract salt water from the marshes. Communities spent eight months a year extracting salt in very dry and hot, sunny weather, but could only support themselves because of the high cost of diesel. Farmers have recently switched to solar PV pumps, a move largely subsidized by the state of Gujarat. Since then, they have vastly improved their living standards, providing their children with a better education and improving their homes. According to one of the farmers, the changes have reduced the costs of salt extraction to a third of what they were.
According to UNICEF Nigeria Water and Sanitation Manager, Michael Forson, the cost of diesel is unaffordable for many communities looking to improve their access to water. “The price of a liter of diesel could rise so much that many communities may not be able to afford fuel to access water. With solar energy, communities have a power supply system that works virtually free of charge,” he emphasizes.
IEC benchmarks for solar water pumps
Solar PV systems have been standardized by one of the IEC technical committees that provides benchmarks for renewable energy systems, TC 82. The IEC 62257 set of technical specifications makes recommendations for small renewable hybrid systems for rural electrification and has been recognized by the World Bank and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The series is accessible to developing countries at a reduced price.
One of the TC 82 working groups, led by the South African Leon Drotsché and the American Arne Jacobson, is working on a technical specification (TS) for solar water pumps. The publication specifies test methods for small-scale (<2 kW PV power) off-grid solar water pumps that assess performance, safety, durability and quality. The TS is part of the IEC 62253 series focused on PV pump systems and will be released in mid-2026.
Solar PV technology has many advantages in terms of cost, cleanliness and ease of use. IEC standards largely contribute to their widespread adoption, meeting several UN Sustainable Development Goals along the way – from SDG 6, which aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, to SDG 13, who wants to take urgent action on climate change and its consequences.
Author: Catherine Bischofberger
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a global non-profit membership organization that unites 174 countries and coordinates the work of 30,000 experts worldwide. International IEC standards and conformity assessment are the basis of international trade in electrical and electronic goods. They facilitate access to electricity and verify the safety, performance and interoperability of electrical and electronic devices and systems, including, for example, consumer equipment such as mobile phones or refrigerators, office and medical equipment, information technology, electricity generation and much more.
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