Assessing the Potential of Microfinanced Solar Water Pumping to Enable Productive Use of Energy in Rural Areas of Burkina Faso

Abstract

The population in Burkina Faso (BF) is rapidly adopting irrigation to adapt to negative impacts of climate change (CC) like prolonged drought, rainfall variability and desertification. However, due to high initial cost of solar water pumping systems (SWPS), population mainly uses diesel water pumps (DWPs) which accelerate CC. This study aims at assessing the potential of microfinanced SWPS for irrigation in the rural areas of BF. The main SWPS market-segments were identified. It was found that there are three main SWPS market-segments. For each market-segment, AC and DC SWPS with water storage were sized. Profitability analysis was conducted at 5.3% per year interest rate and 20 years system life span. It was found that water storage contributes enormously to SWPS capital cost. Furthermore, the study revealed that using SWPS with water storage to completely replace DWPs not profitable. It was found that replacing water storage with DWP to be used on cloudy days is profitable for all market-segments. Finally, main loan features for SWPS were determined. At 9.5% interest charged on agricultural equipment loans by microfinance institutions in BF, only SWPS for two market-segments can be fully financed through microloan without risk of long PBP (> 13 years).