The authorities in the Philippines have opened the largest solar-powered irrigation system in the country, which includes more than 1,000 solar panels and two pumps. More than 200 farmers benefit from the system, and it is the first of its kind to be built on an irrigation canal, which preserves agricultural lands in Isabela Province, in the Northeast of the country.
The project, which cost 65.7 million Philippine pesos ($1.1 million), was built between July 2023 and February 2024, and includes more than 1,000 solar panels, which can produce 739,200 watts of power for its two pumps, with each pump capable of discharging 12,800 gallons (48,453 liters). ) per minute.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the project is the country’s largest solar-powered irrigation project to date and can irrigate 350 hectares of rice fields, helping nearly 237 farmers. Isabela Province is the largest corn producer and the second largest contributor to palay production in the Philippines.
“If we used to use oil-powered machines to flow water from irrigation canals to your fields, now we run them with electricity from the sun,” Marcos Junior said at the opening ceremony. Free electricity from the sun so we can provide free irrigation, and certainly because of the construction of the solar powered pump irrigation project, there will be a continuous flow of water in your area in the irrigation systems, the crops will be well taken care of, and your yields will increase, doubling the product.”
The project is the first in the Philippines to be built on an irrigation canal, which means that the land cultivated by farmers will not be reduced. Marcos Jr. said that an additional 152 solar-powered pump irrigation projects are being built across the country, including 118 projects supervised by the government. He added that 82 solar irrigation projects have been completed and activated since 2023.
*Source: pv-magazine.com
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