Lesson 22. Performance evaluation of solar water pumping systems

One of the agricultural based applications of solar photovoltaic system is water pumping for irrigation.  Though quantity and timing of irrigation may not match with the solar insolation, the pumped water can be stored and irrigated during required periods.  The performance evaluation of the solar pumping system can be carried out based on the solar insolation as input and pumped water as out put.

The required data are

  • Average solar insolation, W m-2

  • Average sun shine hours in the test day, h

  • Area of one SPV module, m2

  • Number of SPV modules

  • Open circuit voltage, Volts

  • Circuit current, Amps

  • Amount of pumper water, litre or m3/day

  • Total head to be pumped, m

  • Water density, δ = 1000 kg m-3

  • Acceleration due to gravity, g = 9.8 m/s2

  • Operating factor = 0.7 (considering the peak rated power of PV panel)

M5 L22 input

Problem

A solar photovoltaic system has the 10 SPV panels of 75 Wp capacity.  Considering the peak rated power of the panel the operational factor of the panel is decided as 0.65 (including mismatch factor).  The average solar radiation in the experimental area is observed as 600 W m-2.  The area of one module is 92.5 X 65 cm.  The pump is used to draw water of 25000 l day-1 and the total head to be pumped is 15 m.  Study the performance of the SPV system.

M5 L22 fig1

Last modified: Monday, 10 February 2014, 10:27 AM