The SunWater Project - Final Diploma Project

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The SunWater Project

The SunWater project is an ongoing product, system and business project being led by Dr Paul Polak and Affordable Village Solar, Inc. The objective of The SunWater project is to use solar power and drip irrigation at the lowest possible cost to improve crop production and provide agronomical/market advice for off season cash crops, to fetch better revenue for small scale farmers. Currently the project is located in West Gujarat, the Little Rann of Kutch and potentially in East Indian states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The project targets small scale (1 Hectare plot) farmers across India, and requires a comprehensive business model strategy, an effective product/system and a strong brand to be successful. My role in this project was to perform a baseline, field and validation research in East and West India to theorize a business model, and to propose a production and distribution strategy. Furthermore, I analysed the design of the current Solar Irrigation system in place and proposed and developed various product design interventions in the field of portability, security and optimization to add value to the project. I also developed and theorized a brand identity for the project.