Design Optimization of Photovoltaic Powered Water Pumping Systems

Ever since beginning of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) in India, a boom is observed in the Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) applications. Usages of SPV water pumping systems for drinking water and irrigation purpose has increased. National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) has established test facilities for evaluation of solar water pumping systems, and also studied various different SPV based water pumps of different capacities, types, and applications. It has been observed that the most of the pumps underperform due to poor design of the system, low efficiency of components and mismatch among components. It is observed that these pumps could have performed more efficiently if technical barrier discussed above are solved. This paper describes the major aspects needed to be incorporated in designing of SPV pumping systems. A specific case of assessment of two submersible pumps of same capacity and same type but with different array capacities has been presented. From experiment it found out that to maximise the water output of a solar water pumping system at a particular site, the incident radiation profile of that particular site should be studied& analysed and PV array capacity should be fixed according to a particular range of irradiance radiation where maximum annual irradiation has fallen.