The Solar Powered Water Pump

Solar Water Pump applications

The major application areas for solar powered water pumps are the following:
Pumping water from a well using a solar water well pump
Moving water on the surface using surface delivery pumps
For Gardens and backyards:solar water fountain pump

The first two belongs mostly to rural areas, the last one can be found in sub-urban gardens.

Rural areas and remote areas can be far away from the grid; click here to view my offgrid solar power page. A solar power water pump is a perfect solution for a remote location, it can work un-attendant and requires very small maintenance effort (fire and forget)

Elements of Solar Powered Water Pumps

Water pumps powered on sun radiation are pretty simple systems containing a Direct Current (DC) pump, solar electric panels and a pump controller.
The pump controller is the interface between the solar panels DC source and the pump load.
Battery backup and charge controller are optional, if night irrigation is planned.

A better idea for night irrigation is to pump water to an elevated water tank during daylight hours and to let the stored water to irrigate the field during night hours

The Solar Water Well Pump

Submersible solar pumps pump water from wells and fit to the well casing in a drilled hole. Casing sizes between 4’’ to 6’’ are available; 6’’ is the most common size. Smaller than 6’’ casing for older wells are hard to find. The deeper the well is the bigger the size of the pump is. Depth can be anywhere from a few feet to 1800 feet (550 meters). Solar operated well pumps are used for moderate amount of water pumping for a moderate size field