Swiss Partners
SOPAS, Solar Pump Association Switzerland, Berne,
www.ennos.ch,
Alois Müller
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Documentation
Swiss Contribution
SOPAS was founded by a multi-disciplinary team of engineers and marketing experts in 2010. The goal of SOPAS is to make innovative solar water pump technologies (based on the work of the Berne University of Applied Sciences) accessible to people in developing countries. SOPAS collaborates with various organizations in many countries. This project will be realized in close collaboration with Helvetas.
Description
This project aims to develop, test and pilot a retrofit solution for converting existing well proven hand pumps into solar pumping systems with tap stations. The solar retrofit will thus allow upgrading hand pumps at much lower cost compared to the installation of complete solar pump systems and many villages could benefit in a short time. The field testing of some 5 retrofits will take place in 5 villages in Northern Benin. The number of beneficiaries is estimated at some 5’000 people during the field test, but if successful, the replication potential is large within an ongoing Helvetas Benin project and in several countries beyond that.