400 farmers to benefit from the new solar pumping system in Senegal

A solar-powered pump system, powered by an array of solar panels with 14.8 kW capacity combined, financed by the German Agency for International Development Cooperation will be beneficial to a rural community near the port town of Saint-Louis on the Senegal-Mauritania border. The solar pumping system can pump up to 2,000 cubic meters of water daily down a 7 km irrigation canal.

With rural Senegal's access to electricity estimated at 38%, compared to 88% in urban Senegal, renewable energy solutions, which have become cost-effective, are crucial in electrifying remote regions of the country. Solar energy, in particular, is a vastly underutilized resource in the country. 90% of Senegal's landmass receives sun radiation of between 1,600 and 1,800 kWh per year, much more than the global average. Senegal has an abundance of sun power but a scarcity of freshwater, with less than 1,000 cubic metres per capita.

The project, which benefits up to 400 market farmers, was undertaken by an NGO, Enda Tiers Monde, as part of its broader Sustainable Energy for Entrepreneurship and Climate Program. Enda Tiers Monde was founded in 1972 in Dakar, Senegal's capital city, and it has grown into an international non-profit organization promoting sustainable development with programs in 40 countries. The NGO, in collaboration with private infrastructure developer InfraCo Africa and renewable energy solutions provider Bonergie Irrigation SAS, announced that it would commit $2.4 million toward the installation of 2,000 solar irrigation pumps across Senegal over the next three years.