What is a solar irrigation pump?

A solar-powered pump is a pump running on electricity generated by photovoltaic panels or the radiated thermal energy available from collected sunlight as opposed to grid electricity or diesel run water pumps. The operation of solar powered pumps is more economical mainly due to the lower operation and maintenance costs and has less environmental impact than pumps powered by an internal combustion engine (ICE). Solar pumps are useful where grid electricity is unavailable and alternative sources (in particular wind) do not provide sufficient energy.

Solar powered water pumps can deliver drinking water as well as water for livestock or irrigation purposes. Solar water pumps may be especially useful in small scale or community based irrigation, as large scale irrigation requires large volumes of water that in turn require a large solar PV array. As the water may only be required during some parts of the year, a large PV array would provide excess energy that is not necessarily required, thus making the system inefficient.

Solar PV water pumping systems are used for irrigation and drinking water in India. The majority of the pumps are fitted with a 2000 watt - 3,700 watt motor that receives energy from a 4,800 Wp PV array. The 5hp systems can deliver about 124,000 liters of water/day from a total of 50 meters setoff head and 70 meters dynamic head. By 30 August 2016, a total of 1,20,000 solar PV water pumping systems have been installed in India and many other places around the world. Energy storage in the form of water storage is better than energy storage in the form of batteries for solar water pumps because there is no intermediary transformation of one form of energy to another. The most common pump mechanics used are centrifugal pumps, multistage pumps, borehole pumps, and helical pumps. Important scientific concepts of fluid dynamics like pressure vs. head, pump heads, pump curves, system curves, and net suction head are really important for the successful deployment and design of solar powered pumps