Technical Survey of Solar Pump Irrigators Cooperative Enterprise in Dhundi, Gujarat, India

Abstract

We report a technical survey of the Solar Pump Irrigators Cooperative Enterprise (SPICE), which started operation in May 2016. Survey mostly followed the methodology developed as part of the All India Survey of PV Module Reliability. High rates of PV module performance degradation, high rate of soiling, and instances of PV panel shadowing due to overgrowth of crop are observed. Leveraging the scale brought in by the cooperative model for addressing the technical issues, by better negotiations for quality hardware, and training of farmers for better operation and maintenance of the PV systems could improve the economic yield of the agrophotovoltaic experiments like SPICE.