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Human existence has revolved around the availability of water. Mankind has sought efficient means of sourcing water with an expanse of population. The major vocation of mankind, agriculture, revolves around predominantly the availability of water. Man over the years has depended mainly on rainfall to drive agricultural produce. This has the limited agricultural activity to specific seasons depending on the requirement of the crop.

Even today, the dependence on rainfall has not subsided, due to the limited access to the connected grid, or sometimes no access at all. Farmers across the country have depended on traditional techniques of irrigation from nearby water-bodies for farming.

A solar pumping system happens to solve both the problems at a time. Solar pumping requires no grid access, allowing an around 8-hour a day operation. Secondly, it decreases the dependence on the natural forces, allowing farmers to plan crops and thereby increasing productivity.

In principle, any solar pump system is the same a regular pump we find in the market. The alteration being in the source of energy. Instead of the grid, we rope in the sun to run the motor via solar modules. Technically, a solar pump is slightly different from a regular pump in design and a regular pump may not deliver the same result when operated using solar modules.

Solar Pumping Systems: Deciphered

A solar pumping system consists of the given key components:

1)Pump assembly
2)Electronic Drive
3)Solar Modules
4)Module Mounting Structure
5)Plumbing accessories

Pump Assembly: The pump assembly is an electro-mechanical device uses mechanical action to displace water using an electrical driven prime mover. The prime mover can be driven using electrical energy generated by the grid, wind power, diesel engines or solar. Based on the depth/ distance from which the water has to be displaced and the quantum of water to be displaced the size of the pump is decided. The size of the pump is generally defined in terms of horsepower (HP).

Depending on the source of water, the pump is generally classified as submersible/deep well pumps and surface mounted/shallow well pumps.

The quantum of water in m3/day, the depth/ distance of displacement and irradiance conditions influence the size of the pumping system and hence define the quantity of solar modules.

Electronic Drive: The electronic drive ideally helps match the input power from the solar panels with the output to the pumping system. It also serves as a protection device. The electronic drive regulates output by adjusting the pump pressure, flow, frequency, etc.

Applications of Solar Pumping Systems

1.Flood irrigation of small fields
2.Drip irrigation for farms
3.Cattle watering
4.Water supply for small villages, schools, hospitals and homes

Solar Modules: The solar modules is an array fo silicon cells connected in series and parallel. The silicon cells get excited with sunlight and generate electricity.

The Forecast:

Significantly low O&M costs and multi-geographical application, allows solar pumps to become useful for off-grid applications. In a country like India, where farmers still remain outside the perimeter of the national grid, the solar pumping system can help reduce the uncanny dependence on the natural factors for agriculture.

The various nodal agricultural agencies and agencies promoting renewable power have realized this and have come together to envisage solar pumping tender. A lot of big scales pumping tenders are in pipeline across the country, and the year 2019 looks very promising especially for the solar pumping industry.