Solar pump testing and research lab coming up at TERI

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India’s sustainable development thinktank The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has signed an agreement with the Maxop Research and Testing Institute to establish laboratories to test solar water pumping systems and other solar products in compliance with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) regulations and international standards.

Shailesh Arora, managing director of Maxop, and Ajay Mathur, director-general of TERI recently laid the foundation stone of the TERI-Maxop Solar Water Pump and Testing Laboratory at TERI’s centre in Gurugram.

The TERI-Maxop test lab will cater to the growing needs of Indian and international solar pump users – including manufacturers, integrators, suppliers and other user organisations – to meet quality and reliability requirements. It will be capable of indoor and outdoor testing.

The test facility will be able to test up to 10 pumping systems simultaneously and complete testing of more than 300 pumps per year. It will test all kinds of pumps, including surface, submersible and float systems – DC and AC – of up to 10 hp capacity. Apart from solar water pumps, it will be equipped to test electrical pump sets for energy efficiency under the Star labelling programme of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.

The market for solar water pumping systems in India is set to expand greatly with the help of aggressive government policies and schemes such as the Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan (KUSUM), which is expected to be launched soon.

India could surpass its 100 GW target of installed PV capacity by deploying solar-powered water pumps. According to a report published last year, the government’s recently announced plans to upgrade all irrigation pumps to solar, as laid out in the KUSUM scheme, would add another 150 GW of solar capacity.

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