Modelling and Optimal Sizing of Photovoltaic Water Pumping Systems – Sensitivity Analysis

Abstract

Recently we have developed a model of photovoltaic water pumping systems (PVWPS) for domestic water access in poor rural areas. In this article, we perform a sensitivity analysis over the 14 parameters of this model. We study how the variation of the parameters value influences the model output and the optimal sizing obtained from the model, for both the dry and the wet season. Results indicate that the peak power of the photovoltaic modules, the efficiency of the motor-pump and the tank volume have the highest impact on the model output. Besides, the parameters which significantly influence the optimal sizing are the position of the water entry in the tank, the position of the stop level of the float switch, the distance between the stop and restart levels of the float switch, the height between the floor and the bottom of the tank, and the static water level in the borehole. Finally, the thermal parameters of the PV modules and the hydraulic losses have a small impact on the model output and on the optimal sizing. This study can be useful to companies, governments and non-governmental organizations which install PVWPS for domestic water access. It can help them to determine the accuracy at which a given parameter has to be known to correctly model or size these systems. It can also allow them to evaluate the robustness of PVWPS sizing to parameters variation with time. Finally, it may guide the choice of components made by PVWPS installers.

Effect of irradiance data on the optimal sizing of photovoltaic water pumping systems

“…In this article, only the source and the temporal resolution of change (see section III) while we use measured data with a 1 minute temporal resolution for the two other inputs of the model ( and ). Indeed, we showed that has a small effect on the model output [12] and we investigated the influence of in a previous article [13].…”

“…The data were rescaled to an evenly spaced temporal resolution of 1 minute by nearest interpolation. The evolution of the measured quantities has been reported in [10] and [12].…”

“…A. Optimization Problem [12] The peak power of the PV modules , , the motor-pump reference and the tank volume are the variables of the optimization. The characteristic curves of 8 references of submersible SQFlex motor-pumps from Grundfos were digitized (references 8A-3, 5A-3, 0.6-2, 1.2-2, 11A-3, 8A-5, 5A-7, 2.5-2) [18].…”

Site Suitability Analysis of Solar PV Power Generation in South Gondar, Amhara Region

“…In this study, a suitability map is produced for solar PV-suitable sites. The criteria weights were changed with a certain percent from that of original weights to show the change in the suitability map of solar PV [30,[48][49][50][51][52][53].…”

Performance Study of the Direct-Coupled Photovoltaic Water Pumping System for the Rural-Isolated Agricultural Region in Iraq

“…While focus on the level of static water not accounting for costs of (drilling for wells, exploration and manpower) were not considered in [14]. The authors in [15], performed sensitivity analysis on 14 parameters and showed that the thermal parameters and hydraulic losses had a negligible effect on the model output and the optimal formation. In [16] the effect of temporal resolution of water consumption rate on model accuracy and optimum sizing (pv sys) was studied.…”