Farmers Review Africa Sept/Oct 2018 FRA - September - October 2018 digital 5 | Page 40

FEATURE
Solar Powered Water
Pumping Systems
M
ost people when they think
of agriculture will picture a
tractor. The humble water
pump, however, chugging or humming
away in a shed, uses as much or
more energy and is likely to be just as
essential to production.
Pumps are used extensively in
agriculture to move water from the
water source, which could be a river,
dam or bore, through pipes to either
a point of usage or a storage facility,
such as a water tank or an irrigation
system.
Increased food production
Millions of people around the world
live with limited access to water. In
many communities, ground water
is extracted through electric water
pumps, which use diesel to fuel their
38 |September - October 2018
systems. However, these systems not
only require costly, regular servicing
and the purchasing of fuel, they
emit carbon dioxide polluting the
atmosphere.
There is an increasing demand for
irrigation due to the need for higher
food production for a rising world
population and decreasing supplies
of freshwater in the context of a
changing climate. High diesel and
electricity costs and often-unreliable
energy services affect the pumping
requirements for irrigation for
small and large farmers. In many
rural areas, grid electricity is not, or is
only sporadically, available.
Using solar energy for irrigation
water pumping is a promising
alternative to conventional
electricity and diesel-based pumping
systems. Solar water pumping is based
on photovoltaic (PV) technology, which
converts solar energy into electrical
energy to run a direct current (DC) or
alternating current (AC) motor-based
water pump.
Solar water pumps
Solar Water Pumping, or photovoltaic
water pumping (PVP), provides an
alternative. After years of research and
technological advances, it has proven
Renewable energy sources have
gained a lot of attention as a
replacement for fossil fuels or as
a supplement in hybrid systems