The Agriculture Department of Himachal Pradesh (HP) has successfully installed the first operational solar lift for irrigation at the Kahlog village near Shimla.

The solar conservator officer Devi Ram Kashyap said, “We are able to lift out water over 220 metres height from two natural resources, through this solar lift. At present this lift irrigating up to 4 hectare land and there are total nine families’ beneficiaries.”

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Kashyap said, water mostly found on the ground level and drawing it out for irrigation costs a huge amount of expenditure in terms of power, but, solar lift is based on renewable energy, will save only the budget and electricity of the state government.

The most important thing that this solar lift is a mobile-operated project, farmers can easily turn the pump ‘on’ or ‘off’ from their mobile. A chip has been added along with the solar panel, which is controlled through ‘shakti’ mobile app.

In Kalog, the community irrigation scheme is built at a cost of just Rs 13.73 lakh. There are 30 solar panels in Kahalog. These produce 7,500 watts of electricity. It is being collected from the first two small sources and stored in a tank.

Water from this lower tank is going to the second tank at 220 meters above. From here, six chambers have been made to irrigate the land of the village.

Kashyap said there are such more plans to be executed in the near villages of Shimla. One of them at Pahal village has been financially sectioned and another one is under consideration which is for Patina village near Jubberhatti.”