Solar Water Pumping System : Alternative

For Providing Water Supply, Case Studied

In Tepus and Panggang District, Indonesia
1,a
1,2

Ramanda, 2,bKhairani Zakiya, and 3,cSentagi Sesotya Utami, S.T, M.Sc, Ph.D

Engineering Physics Department, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia, aram23nda@gmail.com,

b
khairani.zakiya@yahoo.com
3
Engineering Physics Department, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia, csentagi@gmail.com

Abstract. Everything in this world depended on energy, the development of era pushed human for use more energy.
Availability of energy resources was decrease. That condition triggered human to find alternative energy sources, one of
them is solar energy. Solar energy is the energy produced directly by the sun and collected everywhere. The basic idea of a
solar cell is to convert light energy into electrical energy. Availability of the solar energy converter, solar cell, is required for
converted solar energy become electricity. Furthermore, that electricity can be used for many application s, especially
technology which used electrical sources. In this paper be chosen for explain one of them, Solar Water Pumping System.
Solar water pumping system (SWPS) is an excellent alternative for providing water supply. The smallest element of PV
panel is the solar cell. Each solar cell has two or more specially prepared layers of semiconductor material that produce
direct current (DC) electricity when exposed to light. This DC current is collected by the wiring in the panel. It is then
supplied either to DC pump.
Keywords: solar energy, photovoltaic, pump, semiconductor, direct current, alternating current

A. INTRODUCTION
Indonesia had the potential of renewable energy. The
sources of energy that can be developed were solar, wind,
water, and biomass.
Solar energy was predicted being the main energy
source in the future, because the sun as the source of energy
never runs out. Solar energy also was friendly for
environment. It did not emit harmful carbon emission that
contributed to the environmental degradation.

1.2 Case Studied

Availability of water was fundamental thing, because
water used to various necessities of life. In some area, the
availability of water stills an issue for several residents.
Many green areas have been turned into urban and
residential areas. As a result, many source of water were
missing. People get water by digging into the ground. It is
different for population in mountainous areas, water is
gotten from fountain, because the location of underground
water sources were very far from the surface and soil
structure in the form of rock. The fountain located far away
from residential. Especially in dry season, fountain dried
forcing them buying water for daily needs.
Needed a solution to overcome these problems, one of them
is created a system that can lift water from source to the high
plains. The system was solar water pumping system, which
utilizing solar energy as current sources. This paper will
describe solar water pumping system in Panggang and Tepus
area.

B. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Solar Energy and Solar Cell
The Largest supplier of energy for human life is the
energy of sun. The whole of human life depends on suns
energy. The renewable energy sources (sun, wind, water and
biomass) is needed because stocks are finite,.
Lately, a technology that uses solar energy sources are being
developed, one of them is solar water pumping system.
There are two main components of solar water pumping
system, solar cell and DC pump. These components have
their respective functions. Solar cell serves for supplying
power to the pump and the DC pump is used to pump the
water.
A solar cell (also called a photovoltaic cell) is an
electrical device that converts the energy of light directly
into electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Solar cells are
often used to power calculators and watches. They are made
of semiconducting materials similar to those used in
computer chips. When sunlight is absorbed by these
materials, the solar energy knocks electrons loose from their
atoms, allowing the electrons to flow through the material to
produce electricity. This process of converting light
(photons) to electricity (voltage) is called the photovoltaic
(PV) effect.
Some solar cells are designed to operate with concentrated
sunlight. These cells are built into concentrating collectors
that use a lens to focus the sunlight onto the cells. This
approach has both advantages and disadvantages compared

with flat-plate PV arrays. Some concentrating collectors are

designed to be mounted on simple tracking devices, but
most require sophisticated tracking devices, which further
limit their use to electric utilities, industries, and large
buildings.
The performance of a solar cell is measured in terms of its
efficiency at turning sunlight into electricity. Only sunlight
of certain energies will work efficiently to create electricity,
and much of it is reflected or absorbed by the material that
makes up the cell. Because of this, a typical commercial
solar cell has an efficiency of 15%-about one-sixth of the
sunlight striking the cell generates electricity. Low
efficiencies mean that larger arrays are needed, and that
means higher cost.

2.2 Water Pumping

Water pumping is one of the simplest instruments
which can be powered by photovoltaic. It can be use for
irrigation to stock watering to domestic uses. Most of these
systems have the added advantage of storing water for use
when the sun is not shining, eliminating the need for
batteries, enhancing simplicity and reducing overall system
costs. Many people considering installing a solar water
pumping system are put off by the expense. Viewing the
expense over a period of 10 years, however, gives a better
idea of the actual cost. By comparing installation costs, fuel
costs, and maintenance costs over 10 years, you may find
that solar is an economical choice. A solar powered pumping
system is generally in the same price range as a new
windmill but tends to be more reliable and require less
maintenance. A solar-powered pumping system generally
costs more initially than a gas, diesel, or propane-powered
generator but again requires far less maintenance and labour.
The cost of solar pumped water ranged from $0.03 to $0.15
per day. The cost per gallon of water pumped ranged from
$0.002 to $0.007 per gallon.

2.3 Solar-Powered
Configurations

Water

Pumping

System

The configuration of water pumping systems, consists

of battery-coupled and direct-coupled. A variety of factors
configuration of water pumping systems must be considered
in determining the optimum system for a particular
application.

Fig 2.4.1. Configuration of Water Pumping System

Battery-coupled water pumping systems consist of
photovoltaic (PV) panels, charge control regulator, batteries,

pump controller, pressure switch and tank and DC water

pump. The electric current produced by PV panels during
daylight hours charges the batteries, and the batteries in turn
supply power to the pump anytime water is needed. The use
of batteries spreads the pumping over a longer period of
time by providing a steady operating voltage to the DC
motor of the pump. Thus, during the night and low light
periods, the system can still deliver a constant source of
water for livestock. The use of batteries has its drawbacks.
First, batteries can reduce the efficiency of the overall
system because the operating voltage is dictated by the
batteries and not the PV panels. Depending on their
temperature and how well the batteries are charged, the
voltage supplied by the batteries can be one to four volts
lower than the voltage produced by the panels during
maximum sunlight conditions. This reduced efficiency can
be minimized with the use of an appropriate pump controller
that boosts the battery voltage supplied to the pump.
In direct-coupled pumping systems, electricity from the PV
modules is sent directly to the pump, which in turn pumps
water through a pipe to where it is needed. This system is
designed to pump water only during the day. The amount of
water pumped is totally dependent on the amount of sunlight
hitting the PV panels and the type of pump. Because the
intensity of the sun and the angle at which it strikes the PV
panel changes throughout the day, the amount of water
pumped by this system also changes throughout the day. For
instance, during optimum sunlight periods (late morning to
late afternoon on cloudy days, pump efficiency will drop off
even more. To compensate for these variable flow rates, a
good match between the pump and PV module(s) is
necessary to achieve efficient operation of the system.
Direct-coupled pumping systems are sized to store extra
water on sunny days so it is available on cloudy days and at
night. Water can be stored in a larger-than-needed watering
tank or in a separate storage tank and then gravity-fed to
smaller watering tanks. Water-storage capacity is important
in this pumping system. Two to five days storage may be
required, depending on climate and pattern of water usage.
Storing water in tanks has its drawbacks. Considerable
evaporation losses can occur if the water is stored in open
tanks, while closed tanks big enough to store several days
water supply can be expensive. Also, water in the storage
tank may freeze during cold weather.

C. DISCUSSION
Condition of hydrology in Panggang and Tepus was
encountered no surface water, because most of water that
falls to the surface directly into the soil and stored in
underground river. People in these area had to struggle to
walk several kilometers to take water from water source in
remote location. Solar Water Pumping System (SWPS) was
developed to overcome that condition as an application of
the use of solar energy. Working principle of that device is
pumps water from underground river to the surface as pump
in general, but required resources derived from solar energy.
Solar Water Pumping System is made up of two basic
components, there are photovoltaic panels (solar cells) and
pumps.

3.1 Photovoltaic Cells (Solar Cells)

The basic idea of solar cells is convert light energy
into electrical energy. The energy of light is transmitted by
photons, small packets or quantums of light. Electrical
energy is stored in electromagnetic fields, which in turn can
make a current of electrons flow. Solar cells are made up of
semiconductor material which is widely used, called silicon.
When light hits the silicon cells, the light will be absorbed
by the cell, it means that the energy of the absorbed light has
been transferred to that material.

Figure 3.1.3. Voltage-Current Curve to Ambient

Temperature
In general, the power delivered from a power source is

, the product of voltage and current. If is used

instead the current density J, the power density would be,

(1)

Fig 3.1.1. Solar Panels in Panggang

In figure 3.1.1, shows that the installation of solar
panels placed in area exposed to direct sunlight. If the panel
obstructed by shadows or objects, it would reduce the
intensity of the sun's energy which is absorbed. Figure 3.1.2
shows relation of changes in light intensity to voltage and
current.

is power density, is current density and

is voltage

The maximum power density occurs somewhere between

= 0 (short circuit) and

oc

(open circuit) at a voltage

. The corresponding current density is called

Fig 3.1.2. Voltage-Current Curve to Intensity

Changes in light intensity give effect to the resulting
voltage and resulting current. If amount of energy of
sunlight received by the solar cell or light intensity
weakened, then the voltage and current of the electricity
generated will also decrease. The voltage reduction is
relatively smaller than the decrease in the electric current.
The effect of temperature changes on the solar cell is
optimized at a constant temperature is 25 oC. If the ambient
temperature of solar cell rises above 25C, it will affect the
fill factor the voltage will be reduced shown in Figure 3.1.3.
In addition, the efficiency of solar cells will also decrease a
few percent. Otherwise, the resulting current will increase
with increasing temperature in the solar cell.

the maximum power density is

Figure 3.1.4. Maximum Power

, and thus

The efficiency of a solar cell is defined as the power

(density) output divided by the power (density) output. If the
incoming light has a power density

, the efficiency will

be,

Efficiency =

(2)

The fill factor, FF, is another quantity which is used to

characterize a solar cell. It is defined as

(3)

The total power of the solar array in Panggang is

1200 Wattpeak. It consist of 12 @100 Wp solar panel. The
voltage is around 90 V with the current vary according to
sun. The reality PV will not produce maximum power
output due to various factors such as the existing influence
the intensity of the sun is very dependent on the weather.
Usually this solar panels will run from 8.00 am to 4 pm.

Figure 5. Pump type PS 1200

Pump used in Panggang and Tepus is actually an
Alternating Current (AC) pump, where the voltage source to
operate the pump is AC voltage, but the source voltage
produced by the solar cell is Direct Current (DC) voltage.
Needed a converter to convert the DC voltage into AC
voltage at the pump.

D. CONCLUSION
Solar Pumping Water System (SWPS) is one application
utilization of renewable energy, especially solar energy.
SWPS have functioned as a solution to water problems in
village where difficult to get water. That system utilizing
electricity from solar sources. To convert solar energy into
electricity is required solar cells (Photovoltaic systems).
Solar cells system generally have a maximum power of 100
Watts, but in reality its never ideal because there is core loss
in that system. The pump used in Panggang and Tepus,
namely PS 1200. Conditions of religion area will determine
planning and design SWPS that used. The placement of PV
panels also affect the power that will be generated by solar
cell. SWPS has successfully solved the problem of the
availability of water in Panggang and Tepus. This success of
exploiting renewable energy sources is the first step on
development of renewable energy applications in other
regions in Indonesia.

References

3.2 DC Pump
In Panggang and Tepus use the same type of pump
PS 1200. The part of pumps are ie x 100Wp Solar Module
Unit 8-12, Lorenz Submersible Pumps PS-1200, PS-1200
Pump Driver, Instalation cabel and accessories, Construction
buffer module, Box panel system , Maximum total dynamic
head of 240 meters, Max flow rate of 2.5 m3 / h.

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