Lambda Africa 2013 August 2013 | Page 8

Solar Irrigation Pump

A solar irrigation pump system methods needs to take account of the fact that demand for irrigation system water will vary throughout the year. Peak demand during the irrigation system seasons is often more than twice the average demand. This means that solar pumps for irrigation are underutilized for most of the year. Attention should be paid to the system of irrigation water distribution and application to the crops. The irrigation pump system should minimize water losses, without imposing significant additional head on the irrigation pumping system and be of low cost.
Solar powered irrigation pumps are not only exclusive for irrigation purposes, in fact they have many wide spread uses such as:
• Pumping up water from a borehole into a water tank
• Feeding water into the pool
• City water supply
• Water treatment projects
• Landscaping
• The possibilities are limitless.
Question: Why solar powered pumps?
Answer: Solar powered pumps don’ t use diesel fuel, they rarely break down, and when they do they can be repaired easily. This system has very low operating costs compared to a diesel pump. Plus, they don’ t create carbon emissions.
Question: Why use mirrors?
Answer: The single biggest cost in the system is the solar panels. One panel can be several hundred dollars or more. A mirror is a few dollars and is widely available. By using a mirror to shine extra sunlight onto the panel we are increasing the energy output for a tiny fraction of what it would cost to buy another panel. Calculations show we can get the energy we need to run the pump with a set of these mirrors, saving thousands of dollars in the process.
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