Solar pump project: A Public Private Partnership with DEG Friday, 18 November 2005 Negotiations have been concluded with German DEG (Deutsche Entwicklungsgesellschaft) for a Solar Pump Project. The project is based on the experiences we have made with the pilot installation of solar pumps for micro-irrigation purposes. The objective of the project is to install various types of systems on a commercial basis in more than a dozen diverse locations in Lao PDR, and thereby collect the data required to later build tested business plans for investments into solar pumps for productive use in off-grid areas. Of course solar pumps are only viable if farmer groups can rent them, as opposed to buying them. The interest for this in the villages is very high. Sunlabob has entered into a longterm partnership with the Lao organisation Xao Ban in order to conduct this effort. Xao Ban will contribute its agricultural expertise in drip-irrigated crops and the marketing of such crops by producer groups in the villages. In a Public-Private-Partnership DEG will carry the public interest with 47 % of these total costs, mainly for financing the trainings, monitoring, publicity and data collation. Sunlabob and its private partners will carry the remaining 53%, ie. mainly the hardware.