Solar Energy Systems for the Agrarian Zones

Introduction

Increasingly today more attention is being focused on the food-energy-climate nexus. Agriculture requires significant energy across the value chain and reducing the carbon footprint in food production helps fight climate change. At the same time, as renewable energy costs continue to drop, particularly photovoltaic technologies, they offer an increasingly affordable alternative to grid electricity. In rural areas where there is no grid, photovoltaic technology can mean an ascent toward adopting modern farming technologies and introducing transformative processing technologies and machinery.

Why the Course

While solar energy related technologies can be integrated in the farming environment in many ways, currently there are not enough capacity development initiatives that focus on providing farmers, extension workers, agro-dealers and even government and NGO rural development stakeholders with training on how to introduce solar technologies cost effectively, efficiently and sustainably into agrarian zones.

Who Should Attend

• Farmers seeking to reduce their production costs and improve their farm’s energy efficiency levels
• Extension service workers desirous to teach the farmers they work with about the integration of renewable energy into their operations
• Food processing professionals seeking to add machinery and technology to their operations cost effectively
• Rural development practitioners interested in exploring the many ways that business focused solar technology can drive economic development
• Agro-dealers seeking to offer additional services – i.e. solar installation – to the bouquet of “inputs” they can provide
• Electrical practitioners in the farming space who want to be involved in the design and installation of solar energy systems and in the maintenance of such systems.

Our Value Proposition

The course will:

• provide a comprehensive understanding of solar PV technology
• enable farmers, farm engineers and others supporting farm development to conceptualize, configure, design and size solar PV systems for farms
• enable agro-dealers and other rural development focused entrepreneurs to participate in the solar PV market be it to sell systems, components, construction or operations
• enable rural leaders to understand how solar systems on farms in their communities can be expanded to provide electricity for educational, health and residential units as well
• project developers the principles, processes and dos/don’t in the construction of agriculture anchored solar PV plants
• project developers the principles, processes and dos/don’t in the operations & maintenance of agriculture anchored solar PV plants

Duration of the Course

This is a 2-day course. Theory on solar PV technology is covered. We also do exercises in the configuration, design, sizing and pricing of farm based solar PV systems.