Solar pumps’ popularity increases
About 500 farmers have so far applied for subsidised solar pumpsets
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-09-28 02:58 GMT
Guntur: The farming sector is increasingly turning towards solar energy to meet the cultivation requirement in Guntur district. About 500 farmers have so far applied for subsidised solar pumpsets for their farming needs in Bapatla, Tenali, Mangalagiri, Tulluru and Rayapudi areas of Guntur district.
D. Veerabhadra Rao, an engineer, said that the units are charged till about 4 pm, except when there is a thick cloud cover. “Once these pumpsets are installed, farmers can forget about power bills for about 25 years, the life of the pumpsets,” he said.
G. Nageswara Rao, a farmer from Rayapudi village, said that more farmers, especially small and medium farmers, would switch over to solar pumpsets if the government provides bank loans, since they could not bear the Rs2.5 lakh expenditure. Transco SE K. Santhosh Rao said that 500 farmers have applied for solar pumpsets. “We have forwarded a list of 77 farmers to the NREDCAP,” he said.