Design and Implementation Support for a solar pumps policy

The project was commissioned by Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation to provide inputs to the Government of India’s initiative to scale up the Solar PV Pumps scheme under the larger Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. There were three objectives of the study – Assess the socio-economic impact of existing pump installations in the top four participating States (U.P., Bihar, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu), provide recommendations on best practices to inform National and State policy and programmes and apply best practices to strengthen the design of one State’s solar pump programme and support its implementation. Sambodhi involved in design of the research and analytical framework. Post the design phase Sambodhi was also responsible for carrying out field surveys and talk to stakeholders like sector experts, policy makers, pump manufacturers, distributors and customer groups. The key research question that they sought to answer through field research was the level and nature of socio-economic impact of the solar pump initiatives on beneficiaries. The approach adopted towards the assignment was a mixed-methods quasi-experimental design.