Sustainability Assessment of Rural Solar PV Water Pumping System in Nepal

Rural off grid electrification via different technologies is experiencing rapid market growth. The Government of Nepal with the help of donor agencies has been providing various supports in different renewable energy technologies. However, questions have been raised every now and then on sustainability of government led projects and if they are actually pushing the right technology. This paper focuses on the current scenario and sustainability of solar PV water drinking projects that the government has been supporting. Multi-criteria decision analysis method (AHP) is used in this article for the analysis purpose as they have become increasingly popular in decision making for sustainable energy. With respective selection of the criteria comprising technical, environmental, financial and institutional indicators the assessment of selected alternatives is carried out. The assessment procedure has taken off grid energy technologies like PV, diesel gen-set, wind, PV with battery back-up and micro/mini hydro into consideration as the potential alternatives for water pumping systems. The proposed evaluation will help to select the most suitable alternative assisting policy makers to form opinion on sustainability of considered energy systems and make decisions on optimum alternative. Material and results described in this paper are derived from Government supported projects.