Final Products

Solar energy operated pump

Required Inputs

Electric components and equipment

Competing Products

Low competition
Diesel pumps

Potential for Export

High

Complexity – Type of Process

Medium – integration process

Technology

Design, wiring and installation (electrical design, wiring and installation)

Equipment and Material

Electrical tools, PV panels, electric pumps and electric inverters

Human Resources

Manual labor, technicians and electrical engineers

Forward Linkage

Farm owners

Local/Regional/Nationwide

Export & local markets

Backward Linkage

Electric equipment suppliers

Supporting Entities

System component suppliers, testing facilities, marketing and services companies

Competitive Edge

Provides solar energy-operated pump (energy security) and reduces diesel costs, especially for off-grid farms

Revenue Stream

Sales and maintenance of systems

CAPEX

500K EGP

Note: This CAPEX represents the indicative investment size, however, this investment opportunity can grow in implementation to a larger-sized investment.

Investment Size

Micro (less than 500K EGP)

Key Challenge

Convincing clients with a relatively new product, speed of procurement, high initial cost of system for end-users, lack of end-user financing, marketing and sales services, access to high-quality suppliers, absence of regulation and certification for solar engineers/technicians, absence of policies to encourage manufacturing, absence of any direct policies addressing water governance and solar irrigation, absence of regulation and certification of firms working in the Egyptian solar off-grid market, absence of formal land ownership documentation

Advantages

Payback on solar PV pumping is constantly decreasing due to the increase of diesel prices, provides more reliability for systems

Potential Pathways to Growth

Full/integrated solutions for irrigation management, agricultural production and/or harvesting processes (could also include Internet of Things (IoT) applications to automate irrigation), locally manufacturing specific components to customize system to local needs with competitive pricing

Environmental

Reduces CO2 emissions

Social

Sustainable and more reliable energy for better farming

Relevant sub-market

Renewable energy solutions

Lies within the following
value chain/cluster(s)

Solar

Serving the following value chain/cluster(s)

Medical/aromatic plants and herbs, fruits and vegetables

Impact

Enhances the use of solar energy in farming