Design of solar powered lift irrigation system for mountains

Organizers: Department of Energy, Royal Government of Bhutan, ICIMOD, Bhutan Ecological Society, International Development Research Centre

About the event

Women’s Empowerment through Renewable Energy-Powered Lift Irrigation Systems in Bhutan (WERELIS – Bhutan) project seeks to address these gaps. The project is implemented by ICIMOD in collaboration with Department of Energy, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Royal Government of Bhutan along with field implementing partner Bhutan Ecological society. The project is funded by International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.

The WERELIS initiative is organizing a two-day specialized design training for women engineers in Bhutan, enhancing their technical expertise in solar-powered irrigation systems. This capacity-building program equips participants with critical design skills, helping bridge the gender gap in renewable energy for irrigation.

Objective

Bhutan’s irrigation sector faces a critical shortage of skilled professionals, particularly women, at all administrative levels. This gap undermines feasibility studies, system design, construction oversight, and long-term maintenance—limiting modernization and adoption of solar PV irrigation. To address this, a two-day training program has been designed to prioritize and strengthen the technical capacity especially women engineers, ensuring their active participation in the sector.

Training Objectives:

• Provide foundational knowledge on solar-powered lift irrigation systems.
• Explain the working principles and sizing of key system components.
• Equip women engineers with the skills needed to lead in design, implementation, and maintenance of sustainable irrigation solutions.

By focusing on women’s technical and leadership development, this initiative aims to bridge the gender gap in modernising the Bhutan’s irrigation sector.

Background

Agriculture employs 40% of the Bhutanese population, with women comprising more than half of the agricultural workforce. However, the sector’s contribution to GDP has been steadily declining due to a combination of climatic, environmental, and socio-economic challenges, threatening the country’s self-sufficiency in staple crops. Currently, only 20% of cultivable land is irrigated, highlighting a critical gap in agricultural productivity.

Bhutan’s traditional irrigation systems—mainly gravity-fed, open channels—are seasonal and increasingly vulnerable to climate change. The country’s mountainous terrain often necessitates lifting water from sources at a lower elevation, presenting both logistical challenges and opportunities. Bhutan’s abundant fast-flowing rivers present significant potential for renewable energy (RE)-powered solutions, such as decentralized lift irrigation systems—offering a sustainable and innovative path to expand irrigation infrastructure, particularly through sustainable and innovative solutions, and address pressing agricultural challenges. However, current efforts to harness this potential often overlook gender-inclusive and gender-responsive strategies, limiting the equitable participation of women and marginalized groups in the irrigation sector.

Women’s Empowerment through Renewable Energy-Powered Lift Irrigation Systems in Bhutan (WERELIS – Bhutan) project seeks to address these gaps. The project is implemented by ICIMOD in collaboration with Department of Energy, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Royal Government of Bhutan along with field implementing partner Bhutan Ecological society. The project is funded by International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.

The project aims to lay the groundwork for the broader adoption of renewable energy-powered irrigation systems by equipping decision-makers with evidence-based knowledge, practical tools, and scalable models, while also building technical capacity to integrate gender considerations into planning and implementation.