Prospect of solar PV based irrigation in rural Bangladesh: A comparative study with diesel based irrigation system

An analysis has been presented to provide a comparative picture of irrigation cost for diesel and PV based irrigation systems in Bangladesh. The presented results show that, with proper designing of the PV based microgrid, the PV based irrigation can be economically viable when PV cost is less than USD 2.5 per watt peak, taking the unsubsidized diesel cost to be USD 0.9/litre. This can significantly reduce the burden of fuel subsidy in agri-sector encourage promotion of green energy.