Diesel is a subscription. Sunlight isn't.
A 10 HP diesel tubewell running six hours a day through the season burns roughly Rs 55,000–70,000 a month in fuel alone — before repairs, before the trips to town for diesel, before the morning it refuses to start. A solar tubewell replaces that entire line item with sunlight, and at current diesel prices typically pays for itself in 2.5–4 years. The panels then keep pumping for two decades.
The three components
- Solar array — sized to your pump, usually 1.0–1.1 kW of panels per HP.
- VFD (variable frequency drive) — the brain. It matches pump speed to available sunlight, so the pump runs slower under cloud instead of stopping, and soft-starts to protect the motor.
- Pump — submersible or surface, matched to your bore depth and discharge requirement. Your existing pump can often be reused if it's in good health.
No batteries. The sun's schedule is the irrigation schedule, and storage — where needed — is a water tank or pond, which is far cheaper than lithium.
Sizing: match the system to the bore, not the brochure
| Pump | Array | Indicative discharge* | Typical coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 HP | ~6 kW | 1,500 – 2,000 GPH | Smallholding / orchard, drip or furrow |
| 10 HP | ~11 kW | 2,500 – 3,500 GPH | 6 – 12 acres, standard bore |
| 15 HP | ~16 kW | 4,000 – 5,000 GPH | 12 – 20 acres, deeper water table |
| 20 HP | ~21 kW | 5,500 – 7,000 GPH | 20+ acres, high-discharge irrigation |
* At roughly 100 ft dynamic head. Discharge falls as head increases — which is why we measure your bore, water table and seasonal drawdown before quoting, not after installing. A system sized off a phone call is how farms end up with expensive disappointments.
What a solar tubewell costs
As of mid-2026, expect an indicative turnkey range of Rs 9–12 lakh for a 5 HP system and Rs 15–20 lakh for 10 HP, depending on bore depth, pump reuse, structure type (fixed vs manually-adjustable seasonal tilt) and site distance. Treat these as planning numbers — the bore survey fixes the real one.
The payback math, worked
Take the 10 HP example: Rs 60,000 a month of diesel across an eight-month pumping season is roughly Rs 4.8 lakh a year. Against a Rs 15–20 lakh system, that's a 3–4 year payback — faster if diesel prices rise again, faster still if you're also paying for genset maintenance. After payback, your recurring pumping cost is a monthly panel wash.
Financing exists — and we handle the paperwork
The State Bank of Pakistan's renewable-energy financing scheme covers solar tubewells through participating banks at concessional rates, and provincial programmes appear periodically. Terms change; we'll point you to what's current and prepare the technical documents your bank needs.
Next step
Tell us your pump HP, bore depth (if known) and district on WhatsApp — we'll give you a straight answer on whether solar fits your site, and what it would cost. More detail on our agricultural solutions page.