A study of a photovoltaic array for water pumping

Abstract

A water pumping system comprising a 1·14 kW photovoltaic array and a 860 W centrifugal pump was tested for its performance. A system simulation procedure was developed and presented for comparison. Satisfactory agreement is evident, in general, between the predicted and experimental results. The discrepancy of the results at high solar intensities is attributed to the temperature effects of solar cells at elevated cell temperatures. Overall efficiency of the system remains low, around 1·6%, owing to inefficiencies associated with the system components. Simulated results predict that the system performance can be improved significantly with a parallel pump arrangement and proper load matching. © 1986.