Theoretical Simulation and Experimental Analysis

of a PV-Based Water Pumping System

Meidanis Ev. (*), Vokas G.A.(1), Kaldellis J.K.
Lab of Soft Energy Applications & Environmental Protection, TEI of Piraeus
(1)
Department of Electronics Engineering, TEI of Piraeus
Tel: +30 210-5381237, Fax: +30 210-5381467, E-mail: sealab@ gdias.teipir.gr, www.sealab.gr, P.O. Box 41046, Athens 12201, Greece

ABSTRACT: During the last years, photovoltaics have been

used in various applications worldwide, either as grid connected
power stations or in order to provide remote communities with a
viable energy solution. In this context, being mainly concerned
with serving remote consumers, PV pumping systems (PVPSs)
suggest one of the most common photovoltaic applications used
for covering both irrigation needs and potable water supply. In
this context, emphasis is given in the present study in order first
to simulate the operational modes of a typical PVPS and secondly
to provide an analysis based on experimental measurements, concerning the water mass flow rate, the voltage and the current of
the PV generator and the pump, the local solar irradiation and the
ambient temperature. Based on the analysis of the data collected
and on the energy balance of the PV pumping system, one may
conclude that similar PVPSs may significantly contribute to the
satisfaction of a typical remote communitys water consumption
needs, at rational first installation cost.
Keywords: Solar Energy; Experimental Measurements; Energy
Balance; Remote System; Pumping Head.

I. INTRODUCTION
The ability of photovoltaic systems to produce electricity
by directly using the available solar potential offers great
benefits such as minimum environmental impacts, low
maintenance requirements and moderate electricity generation costs on a life cycle basis [1,2]. Meanwhile, photovoltaics have been used in various applications worldwide,
either as grid connected power stations or in order to provide remote communities with a viable energy solution. In
this context, being mainly concerned with serving remote
consumers, PV pumping systems (PVPSs) suggest one of
the most beneficial photovoltaic applications.
According to IWMI [3] almost a quarter of the worlds
population lives under water scarcity conditions while the
UNESCOs projections [4] concerning water scarcity for
2025 are much more pessimistic.

More specifically, economic scarcity occurs in the case

that there is a lack of water infrastructure, not enough investments and/or human capacity able to cover water demand. For example, economic scarcity is met in sub
Saharan African areas or other remote locations found in
developed (e.g. Aegean Sea islands [5]) and more often in
developing countries. In this context, to increase water
supply and also manage to face economic scarcity, the
adoption of PVPS could be an ideal solution. Besides, if
one takes into account the direct relation between sunlight
and water demand, i.e. the water demand increase being
usually analogous to the corresponding insolation increase,
the implementation of photovoltaics serving the water
pumping concept proves to be an ideal energy solution for
remote consumers. At this point, one may also add that the
grid extension cost (when applicable) varies between
10,000 and 25,000 for low voltage cases [6]. Thus, it is
quite reasonable that PVPSs are already widely adopted in
several rural areas where the vital need for water cannot be
always supported by a local electricity network and the
respective PV-applications may be used for covering both
irrigation needs and potable water supply.
II. POSITION OF THE PROBLEM
Emphasis is given in the present study in order first to
describe and then simulate the operational modes of a typical PVPS, providing also an analysis based on experimental measurements. In this context, the main aim of the current investigation is to provide information on the energy
balance, the performance and the efficiency of PV pumping systems, to people willing to adopt and install such a
PV application to cover their water needs.
In order to obtain a detailed theoretical analysis the basic
equations describing the operational behaviour of the
PVPS main components are first presented. Accordingly,
experimental measurements under variable operational
conditions are carried out using the PV pumping system of
the Soft Energy Applications & Environmental Protection
Laboratory of the TEI of Piraeus. More precisely, the experimental procedure undertaken considers the variability
of the operational conditions of the pumping system and
the PV generator, while in order to perform the proposed
analysis, measurements concerned with the water mass
flow rate, the voltage and the current of the PV generator
and the pump, the local solar irradiation and the ambient
temperature are also collected.
Based on the analysis of the data collected, useful information about the performance and the energy balance of
the PV pumping system can be provided, while a detailed
comparison between the simulation results and the experimental measurements also becomes available.

III. PROPOSED PHOTOVOLTAIC PUMPING SYSTEM

PV pumping systems may be divided into two main categories, i.e. directly coupled PVPS and systems making use
of a battery storage sub-system. The first category includes
a PV array directly coupled to a motor, most often a DC
motor, which drives a pump. Solar energy gets converted
into electricity, powering the motor coupled to the pump.
The motor produces mechanical energy hence operating
the pump, storing water in tanks (hydraulic energy). Directly coupled PVPS is the simplest, cheapest and most
reliable solution for water pumping [7]. In this case, several researchers mention the existence of a minimum insolation level in order for the PVPS to operate. The so-called
"insolation threshold" depends on the system components
characteristics.

with "GT" being the solar irradiance at PV surface, "."

being the effective transmittance and absorbance product,
"s" being the PV panel manufacturer constant and "Ac"
being the collector area. Note that the constants "UT", "Io",
"Ir" and "Rs" result from the analysis [9] of the detailed
equivalent circuit of a PV panel (cell), depending on the
absolute temperature of the PV panels surface, the internal
resistance, the shunt resistance, the diodes current etc.
Besides, in Figure 2 one may find a typical PV (I-U) operational curve for different solar radiation and temperature
values.

Figure 2: PV panels (I-U) curve [9]

Figure 1: A PVPS with battery storage

PVPS making use of battery systems (Figure 1) are able

to store energy achieving autonomy for a certain period
and are able to supply water during nights or cloudy days.
A better pump operation can be achieved as the battery
system provides the loads with a more stable voltage, with
the use of a charge controller being necessary in order to
achieve the appropriate charging voltage and current for
the batteries as well as to protect the PV array from adverse
current. Regarding the batteries part, lead-acid and NiCd
batteries are most frequently met in solar applications [8].
Note also that if making use of a DC/AC inverter, the
aforementioned PV-generator is able to drive an AC motor
as well. Considering the above, it is the second case that is
under investigation in the present analysis, however excluding the existence of a DC/AC inverter (for cost reduction purposes).
IV. PVPS ENERGY BALANCE SIMULATION MODEL
A. PV-Panels Characteristics
Applying the equivalent circuit of a PV cell one may obtain the corresponding (I-U) curve [9,10], i.e.

I = I ph I 0 (exp

U + I Rs
UT

1) I r (exp

U + I Rs
2U T

(1)

1)

where "Iph" is the PV photocurrent given as:

I ph = GT ( ) s Ac

(2)

B. Battery Storage System

A battery storage system is normally used to store energy during increased electricity generation periods and
accordingly feed the consumption in cases of energy deficit
[11]. The capacity "C" of a battery (usually expressed in
Ah) is equal to the product of the discharge current "Idisc"
with the discharge time period "td", i.e.:

C = I disc t d

( with C C min )

(3)

while the useful electric energy "Eb" that is stored in a battery system with a nominal voltage "Ub" is equal to:
E b = C U b = I dish U b t d

( with U b U min )

(4)

What must be mentioned at this point is that in order to

protect the battery from early degradation one should not
permit the absorbance of the entire energy stored inside it.
Actually, using the Depth of Discharge (DOD) parameter
one may express the portion of the battery nominal capacity that is "consumed" during the discharge operation of the
battery.
For practical reasons and safe battery operation the following relation should be validated:

DOD DOD L

(5)

where "DODL" is the maximum permitted depth of discharge that guarantees (according to the battery manufacturer) long service period of the equipment. Besides, for

lead-acid batteries only the following semi-empirical formulae may be used in order to estimate the number of cycles "nc" of a typical battery, i.e.:

nc DOD L 1200

(6)

Pp =

At this point it is important to mention that due to the

time-variation of the available solar energy and the variable
load demand, the number of battery cycles cannot be estimated accurately.
Finally, the battery capacity depends on the corresponding temperature "T", thus several semi-empirical relations
similar to equation (7), i.e.:

CT = C o a T x + b

(7)

have been proposed from various researchers.

Voltage vs. DOD for Typical (12V) Lead-Acid Batteries
16

C/5 Disharge
C/10 Disharge
C/20 Disharge
C/5 Charge
C/10 Charge
C/20 Charge

Battery Voltage "Vb" (V)

15
14

On the other hand, the power demand of the water pump

is expressed via the water flow rate "Q" and the pump head
"H" as:

13

g Q H
p

(11)

where "p" is the pumps efficiency (Figure 4), "g" is the

gravity acceleration and "" is the water density. Using the
electrical motor-pump power balance equation one finally
gets that:

g Q H = p TM M

(12)

The next relation required is the pump (H-Q) curve, Figure 4, which is normally used to locate the pumps operation point. For this purpose one also needs the corresponding total head of the installation "Hm", which is the sum
[12] of the static head "Hs" (elevation difference) and the
network hydraulic losses "Hl", thus one may write:

Hm = Hs + Hl = h + Q2

(13)

The operation point results by the application of the following equation:

12
11

H = Hm

10
0

10

20

30

40

50

(14)

60

DOD (%)

or by the intersection of the corresponding curves of Figure

4.

Another important issue is the battery voltage in relation

to its current during the charge and discharge phases. In
fact, the following relations are used, i.e.:

Underwater Pump Operational Characteristics

Water-Supply System Characteristics
140

U = U oc + I Rb

(Ch arg e period )

(8a)

HA (m)
Max Q Mode
Min Q Mode
(%)

120

U = U oc I Rb

( Disch arg e period )

(8b)

where "Uoc" is the batterys open circuit voltage and "Rb" is

the batterys internal resistance. In Figure 3 one may find
representative batterys voltage distributions as a function
of the batterys "DOD" for typical lead-acid batteries and
various battery charge/discharge time periods (5-20h).

Head H(m)

100

70%
60%
50%

80

40%

60

30%

40

20%

20

10%

Efficiency ( )

Figure 3: Battery (Ub-DOD) typical curves

0%
4,5

5,0

5,5

6,0

6,5

7,0

7,5

8,0

Q (lit/min)

Figure 4: Water pump operational characteristics

C. Motor-Pump System
Taking into consideration that the proposed system is
based on the utilization of a DC motor to power the installation pump, the motors voltage "UM" can be expressed as:

U M = I M Ra + K M M

(9)

where "IM" is the motors current, "Ra" is the armatures

resistance, "KM" is the motors constant given in
(Volts/(sec.rad)) and "M" is the motors angular velocity.
Subsequently, the motors output torque is given by:

TM = K M I M

D. Energy Balance of the System

The solar energy available on the PV panels surface
"Esol" for a specific time period "t" is given as:

(10)

E sol = Ac

to + t

to

GT dt

(15)

while the PV panels energy output during the same time

interval can be expressed as:

E PV =

t o + t

to

I (GT ; c ) U (GT ; c ) dt

(16)

where "c" is the temperature of the PV panels surface

[10]. Using equations (15) and (16) one may estimate the
efficiency "PV" of the PV panels used, i.e.:

PV =

E PV
E sol

(17)

At the same time, the energy stored in the system battery

"Eb" during the time period under investigation may be
estimated by using the following relation:

bt = C b + t U b + t C b U b

Note that equation (23) neglects the hydraulic losses of

the installation and can be used as an evaluation criterion
of the equipment (PV-panels, charge controller, battery
bank, electrical motor, water pump and cables) used.
V. RESULTS OF THE PVPS ENERGY BALANCE
For the experimental evaluation of a typical PVPS installation, the Soft Energy Applications and Environmental
Protection Lab of TEI of Piraeus has installed an appropriate PV pumping system (Figure 5) based on:

(18)

Finally, the dynamic energy of the uplifted water (elevation difference "h") is given as:

Ew = g h V

(19)

where "V" is the total water volume stored at an elevation

difference of "h" during the time period "t".
Applying the energy balance equation for the configuration of Figure 1 one gets:

E PV = E w + Eb + Eloss

(20)

where the "Eloss" component includes the loss due to the

system cablings (from the PV panels to the battery and
from the battery to the pump motor), the system charge
controller losses, the battery self-consumption, the motors
armature resistance energy consumption and the water
pump losses.
Using the above analysis one has the opportunity to estimate the total efficiency of the installation by comparing
the dynamic energy of the water stored with the available
solar energy at the PV panels surface as:

tot =

Ew
= PV res p h
E sol

(21)

Thus one may express the total efficiency of the system

as the product of the PV panels efficiency, the water pump
efficiency, the hydraulic efficiency "h" of the water transportation system and the efficiency (losses) of all the systems resistances "res". Note that the hydraulic efficiency
of the installation is defined as:

h =

h
h
=
H h + Q2

(22)

In cases that the water flow volume transferred is relatively small and the water transportation system is carefully
designed one may assume that h1.0, thus equation (21) is
written as:

= PV res p
tot

(23)

Figure 5: Schematic presentation of the proposed PV-based

water pumping installation

A photovoltaic generator of 12 panels (maximum power

of every panel 51Wp), properly connected (6 in parallel and
2 in series) to feed the charge controller with the voltage
required (24Volt).
i. A lead acid battery storage system with a total capacity
of 400Ah, operation voltage 24V and maximum discharge capacity 200Ah (or equivalently maximum
depth of discharge 50%).
ii. A DC/DC charge controller of 1kW rated power.
iii. A small water pump of 100W nominal power with the
corresponding head being 120m and with the volumetric flow rate varying between 5lt/min and 7.5lt/min.
iv. A water reservoir of 0.5m3 volume capacity along with
the corresponding pipes for water transportation.
More precisely, the photovoltaic unit consists of two independent photovoltaic arrays of poly-Si with a total of 12
"LA361-K51S" photovoltaic panels involved [13]. The
photovoltaic panels are south oriented while their tilt-angle
may be adjusted in a range between 0 and 90, thus enabling the experimental study of the PV performance under
different operational conditions. In order to measure the
available solar irradiance [14] two "Li-Cor" pyranometers
are utilized. Based on the design of the experimental installation, the first pyranometer is placed horizontally while
the second is fitted coplanar on the PV-panels in order for
the instrument to have the same tilt-angle and orientation.
Solar irradiance measurements are also available from the

Esol=38450Wh38.5kWh
Accordingly, taking into account the PV generator current and voltage measurements (Figure 7) for the charging
time period, equation (16) gives:
EPV=3020Wh3.0kWh
On the basis of the results obtained, the daily-mean efficiency of the experimental PV generator (eq.17) is estimated at 7.9%, i.e. an acceptable value for a typical summer day since the corresponding capacity factor approaches 21% on a daily basis.
Finally, taking into account that during the pump operation the PV-based installation has the ability to uplift al-

Experimental Solar Radiation Values vs. Time

1000

Solar Radiation (W/m )

900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
6:00

8:00

10:00

12:00

14:00

16:00

18:00

Time

Figure 6: Solar radiation vs. time during the experiments day

most 22400lt of water (22.4m3) at a manometric head of

30.5m (note that the battery had fed the water pump for
almost 60h, i.e. average volume flow rate 370m3/h) the
water dynamic energy is estimated using equation (19) as:
Ew=1860Wh1.9kWh
Thus, combining equations (15) to (23) the total efficiency of the entire water pumping installation approaches
5%, or more precisely:
tot=4.83%
In this context, taking into consideration the average water pump efficiency (60%) and using equation (23) one
PV Power Output vs. Time
500
450

PV Power Output (W)

nearby solar radiation experimental station [15]. Finally,

the temperature values of both the PV panels surface and
the ambient are also measured via properly adjusted thermometers.
Regarding the storage of the electrical energy produced,
the system includes four closed-type batteries (12V,
200Ah) characterized by slow discharge rates and high
depth of discharge (DODL=50%). The batteries are connected in pairs of two, first in series and next in parallel,
therefore providing an output voltage of 24V, available to
the consumption. As far as the charge controller is concerned, a twofold purpose supports the controllers internal
operation as a charge controller in series and the corresponding external as a "Shunt" controller device. Electric
switches placed on the secondary direct voltage electric
panel of 24Volt DC are connected with the pre-selected
electrical loads.
Finally, the water pumping system employed is comprised by a water storage tank of 500 L and a "Shurflo
9300" underwater pump of 24 Volts DC. The water pump,
placed inside the lower tank, in the interior of the Soft Energy Applications and Environmental Protection Lab, is
used to pump water to the building roof in order to feed the
solar collectors as well as to cover the Labs hot water requirements. Note also that the water pump is activated by
an appropriate current relay placed on the secondary electrical panel as well.
In order to realize a complete energy balance analysis of
the PVPS installation, the authors decide first to completely discharge (DOD=50%) and accordingly to fully
charge the system batteries (DOD=0%) using the available
solar energy, Figure 6, without any load consumption. Subsequently, the PV panels are disconnected from the system
batteries and the entire energy content of the battery bank
is used to pump water at a given elevation (no additional
loads) until the DOD value reaches the corresponding
depth of discharge limit (i.e. 50%).
In this way one has the opportunity to eliminate the term
of equation (20) concerning the energy stored to the battery, i.e. b=0.
Using the data of Figure 6 (concerning the experimental
values of almost one summer day) and equation (15) the
corresponding solar energy at the PV panels surface is
approximately:

400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
6:00

8:00

10:00

12:00

14:00

16:00

18:00

Time

Figure 7: PV generators power output vs. time, during the

experiments day

may estimate the sum of all the other losses of the installation, being equal to 6.5% or res=93.5%.
Recapitulating, using the theoretical energy balance
analysis of section IV and the experimental data measured,
one may state the following:
9 The proposed PV water pumping system operates
smoothly with relatively low internal losses (of the order of 10%).
9 The total solar energy utilization degree (round trip
efficiency) for the proposed PVPS is almost 5%, taking
into account the quite low average efficiency (8%) of
the relatively outmoded PV panels utilized.
9 One of the most important findings of the current study
is that by using only a 610Wp PV generator (total turnkey cost 5000 [16]) one has the ability to elevate more
than 22.3m3 of water at 30.5m height, covering the
daily water needs of almost 230 domestic consumers
(100 l/day).

VI. CONCLUSIONS
A detailed analytical and experimental investigation of a
typical PVPS is carried out in order to realistically simulate
the energy balance of the proposed installation. For this
purpose the necessary energy related equations along with
the corresponding measurements concerning the water
mass flow rate, the voltage and the current of the PV generator and the pump, the local solar irradiation and the ambient temperature, are all presented. Accordingly, based on
the analysis of the data collected, the energy performance
of the PVPS is estimated. Actually, the overall efficiency
of the experimental installation approaches 5%, mainly due
to the fair efficiency of the PV panels used (i.e. 8%). Finally, from the results obtained, one may conclude that
similar PVPSs may significantly contribute to the satisfaction of a typical remote communitys water consumption
needs at rational first installation cost.

[10]

[11]

[12]
[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

VII. REFERENCES
[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

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Applications of Soft Energy Resources: Solar PotentialPhotovoltaic Applications-Solar Heating Systems, Stamoulis
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VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
Mr. Evangelos Meidanis holds an Electrical Engineering Degree from
the TEI of Patras and is in the stage of accomplishing his Master Thesis in
the MSc in Energy Programme, organized by the University of Heriot
Watt and the TEI of Piraeus. His research interests are mainly focused on
the scientific fields of energy issues and renewable energy applications.
Dr. Georgios Vokas holds an Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Degree from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He
obtained his PhD from NTUA in 1995 and has a long-term professional
experience in designing and supervising research and development projects, being senior project manager of several European Programs in
ELANET (Hellenic Development Company). He is currently Assistant
Professor in the Department of Electronics Engineering, TEI of Piraeus.
Dr. John K. Kaldellis holds a Mechanical Engineering Degree from
the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and a Business
Administration Diploma from the University of Piraeus. He obtained his
PhD from NTUA sponsored by SnecmaDassault, France. He is currently
Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department and Head of the Soft
Energy Applications and Environmental Protection Laboratory of TEI of
Piraeus. He is also the Scientific Director (for TEI of Piraeus) of the MSc
in Energy program organized by Heriot Watt University and TEI of Piraeus. His research interests include feasibility analysis of energy sector
applications, technological progress in wind, hydro and solar energy market, hybrid energy-energy storage systems, social attitude towards renewable energy applications and environmental technology-atmospheric pollution. Since 2004 he is associated editor of the Renewable Energy International Journal.