Solarizing Community Water Pumps

Winrock’s Solarizing Community Water Pumps project is giving communities a new option for solarizing existing diesel pumps without depending on grant funding. Under Winrock’s model, a local private solar vendor covers the costs of installing the solar pump and gets paid back by the community over time. The terms of agreement are spelled out in a three-way Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Woreda, the community water committee, and the private solar vendor. Winrock’s role is to facilitate financing for the private solar vendors to reduce the risk of their investment, and oversee the solar pump technical design and installations. Winrock’s partner, the Tufts University Climate Policy Lab, will conduct household and focus group surveys to assess community satisfaction with the solar pumps.