Sub-Saharan Africa Solar Irrigation Explorer

The CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) have launched the Sub-Saharan Africa Solar Irrigation Explorer. It supports investors who are interested in understanding the potential of investing in groundwater-sourced solar irrigation in the region. It calculates the size of solar systems for key irrigated crops based on kilowatt peak (kWp), which is the maximum output in kilowatts that that the photovoltaic system needs to produce given climatic, groundwater, and crop-specific requirements.

The explorer additionally calculates the potential for solar system expansion at pre-selected break-even cost points at which the groundwater-sourced solar irrigation systems are more cost efficient compared to other energy sources, such as diesel.