MIT ​Evaluation of ​Solar Pumps

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MIT ​Evaluation of ​Solar Pumps

MIT researchers release evaluation of solar pumps for irrigation and salt mining in India

Study of solar pump technology use in India assesses technical performance and explores innovative business cases to increase user adoption.

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Image source: MIT

MIT researchers have just released a new report evaluating a range of solar pump technologies and business models available in India for irrigation and salt mining to better understand which technologies can best fit farmers’ needs.

The report, “Solar Water Pumps: Technical, Systems, and Business Model Approaches to Evaluation,” details the study design and findings of the latest experimental evaluation implemented by the Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation (CITE), a program supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and led by a multidisciplinary team of faculty, staff, and students at MIT.

Launched at MIT in 2012, CITE is a pioneering program dedicated to developing methods for product evaluation in global development. CITE researchers evaluate products from three perspectives, including suitability (how well a product performs its purpose), scalability (how well the product’s supply chain effectively reaches consumers), and sustainability (how well the product is used correctly, consistently, and continuously by users over time).

INTRODUCTION

The Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation (CITE) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is dedicated to developing methods for product evaluation in global development.

CITE is led by an interdisciplinary team at MIT, and draws upon diverse expertise to evaluate products and develop a deep understanding of what makes different products successful in emerging markets.

Our evaluations provide evidence for data-driven decision-making by development workers, donors, manufacturers, suppliers, and consumers themselves. From September 2015 to March 2017, CITE researchers evaluated solar-powered water pump systems.

These are the most technically complex products yet to be considered under CITE’s “3-S” evaluation framework of Suitability (does a product perform its intended purpose?), Scalability (can the supply chain effectively reach consumers?), and Sustainability (is a product used correctly, consistently & continuously over time?).

While other products evaluated by CITE have been relatively simple, as in water filters and food storage technologies, solar pumps include components of power generation, power electronics, and pump components.

In addition to partners in the United States, the team worked closely with partners in three locations in India and two locations in Myanmar.

These partners have been instrumental in choosing the solar pump technology used by farmers in their communities.

Read full article: MIT

Full report in the attachment or at MIT

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