PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

BP Solar to supply 5,000 PV drip irrigation systems to Sri Lanka

BP Solar Australia has been awarded $21.2 million AUD ($16.4 million) in the first phase of a possible two-phase program to provide 5,000 solar-powered drip irrigation systems to Sri Lanka by 2006.

	© BP Solar Global Headquarters
Drop by drop: Before BP Solar's deal for 5,000 drip irrigation systems was announced, Sri Lanka had been operating four pilot sites for more than 18 months to evaluate their effectiveness on crop yields.

While the deal was made public in mid-April, funding for the Sustainable Water Assistance Management Program (SWAMP) had been set in motion in January when the Australian Export Finance Facility set up two bank loans through Citibank, guaranteed by Export Finance and Insurance Corp., Australia's export credit agency.

According to Veronica Musselli of BP Solar in Spain, the company started supplying the systems in March to Sri Lanka, where pilot systems have been in operation at four sites for more than 18 months. The irrigation systems, which deliver water directly to the root zone by a dripper line on the soil surface, will be distributed in collaboration with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Agriculture to approved recipients. Payment will be in the form of low-interest loans, expected to be recovered in three to four years. BP Solar will provide training in management, operation, and maintenance of all system components to farmers involved in the scheme.

Musselli, who did not know how much installed PV capacity the deal is worth, declined to give any details on a second phase of the SWAMP project, saying only that it would be dependent on successful implementation of the first phase.