Most farms use diesel-powered pumps to extract the groundwater that is used to irrigate crops and trees.However, it is noisy, dirty and expensive, with farms paying up to Dh80,000 a year to fuel one generator.

But the good news is that the Emirati engineers have ?nstalled 28 solar panels, which generate 8.5 kilowatts of electricity, to irrigate a small section of the Khub Al Dhas forest in the Western Region.

Basically the idea behind this project is to promote sustainability solutions.

It is expected that the sustainable solar-propelled water pumping system will cut the operation costs by up to 60 per cent a year as compared to traditional ?enerators.

It is hoped it will eventually replace the diesel-powered pumps that provide water for some of the thousands of the ghaf trees.

This yet again proves that UAE seeks to embrace new ?nnovations to achieve sustainability in the use of water ?esources in the agriculture ?ector, as well as to support young Emiratis to continue research and development.

Presently, EAD manages 73 date palm farms across the emirate – 55 of which are in Al Gharbia – and these contain 361,584 palm trees.

Source:

The National