Potential of Photovoltaic Power Technology for Water Pumping in Hot Climatic Regions

Abstract

In the present paper, the potential of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology for water pumping in the K.S.A has been studied by analyzing long-term solar radiation data. To achieve this task, five geographically distinct sites covering different provinces/locations of the Kingdom have been selected. In general, long-term data indicates that the monthly average daily solar radiations/insolation of K.S.A. varies from 3.03 - 7.32 kWh/m2. Also, monthly average daily sunshine duration lies in the range 6.5 -12.3 hours/day. The prevailing solar radiation intensity has been used as means to assess the potential of using solar PV technology for water pumping. The study deals with estimation of monthly average daily and yearly amount of water that can be pumped (for a given water head and for a given PV power). The investigation also examines the impact of pumping heads (20m, 30m, 40m, 50m) on amount of water pumped (m3/day). Attempt has been made to evaluate the effect of size of PV power (0.75 kWp, 1.6KWp, 3 kWp, 6 kWp) on annual water output. It has been found that about 75m3/day and 71m3/day of water can be pumped in the month of July in northern and eastern regions of Saudi Arabia respectively (at a water head of 20m, with 1.6 kWp solar PV generator).