Odisha Bets On Solar to End Water Woes in Power-Starved Habitations

The Odisha government has planned to use solar energy to cater to drinking water needs in remote and inaccessible areas. The government said that since many of these remote and tribal regions are either un-electrified or face erratic power supply from the grid, solar energy could play a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth functioning of water sources, mainly borewells and hand pumps.

As part of the plan, the state has earmarked 660 anganwadi centres and schools in such areas to ensure an uninterrupted water supply throughout the year. This comes at a time when several media reports have highlighted the hardships faced by local communities in accessing water, especially when wells and local water bodies dry up and water levels drop during summer.

Marred By Energy Poverty

“Since most of these habitations are either un-electrified, power-starved, or the power supply is highly erratic, energizing the wells with normal grid power is very difficult. Frequent natural calamities also disrupt the normal water supply due to grid failure. In such a scenario, Solar PV water pumping systems in tandem with existing hand pumps (called dual pumps) emerge as a viable option for ensuring an uninterrupted drinking water supply with minimum recurring expenses,” a government document describing the project stated.

The state government plans to implement this work under the Basudha scheme in collaboration with the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA). Funds will be sourced from the District Mineral Foundation (DMF), Non-Jal Jeevan Mission, and other departments.

Tender Issued

The state government has issued a tender seeking vendors to undertake the project to supply dual solar pumps. The tender aims to allocate work to vendors quoting the lowest (L1) prices. Due to time constraints, OREDA plans to award projects to empanelled vendors, subject to their acceptance of the L1 price discovered through the bidding process. The tender submissions are now done and the agency is waiting for giving the award to the qualified vendors. 

OREDA also stated that, apart from supply and installation, vendors will be responsible for Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of the projects for the initial five years.

“The broad scope of supply and installation includes design, manufacture, supply, installation, testing, commissioning, warranty, and operation & maintenance for five years of a solar energy-based dual pump piped water supply system. This system will provide Solar Photovoltaic pump sets along with MS stage, storage tank, piping, and stand post, adhering to standardized norms/BIS/MNRE specifications (as per valid test reports issued to the bidder by an authorized test center),” the OREDA tender said.