The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued a memorandum requesting for views of stakeholders on the BIS standards for solar PV water pumping systems.

Earlier, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) had requested the MNRE to convene a meeting of the sub-committee constituted for formulating the standards for solar PV water pumping systems. During the discussion, it was felt that the views of stakeholders may be invited for the final BIS standards.

The comments are invited on the following documents –

• Specifications of solar PV water pumping systems (centrifugal pumps)
• Draft specification of solar PV water pumping systems for positive displacement pumps
• Draft testing procedure guidelines for solar PV water pumping systems

In March 2018, the government of India had announced that it would launch the Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) program with an aim to solarize the agricultural sector using solar-powered water pumps and provide solar-powered electricity to rural areas.

In a recent report, the government also said that it plans to increase the number of installed solar pumps by 10 times and set up 75 million off- grid solar pumps by 2022 under the KUSUM scheme.  It is likely to attract a substantial interest from the private sector to develop models in the solar pump segment. Therefore, a BIS standard for the solar PV water pumping systems will keep away the poor-quality pumps flooding the market.

Recently, the MNRE extended the deadline for BIS certification of solar inverters by six months. The new deadline is June 30, 2019.

Mercom has reported about the struggles of inverter manufacturers in gaining clarity on the ambiguous BIS certification process. The unavailability of labs, lack of testing facilities and manpower, unreasonable costs of testing, absence of series guidelines, and confusion by MNRE notifications were some of the issues that have made the compliance of the order Solar Photovoltaics Systems, Devices and Component Goods Order 2017 nearly impossible.

Image credit: Vishwjeet