Water is the primary source of life for mankind and one of the most basic

necessities for rural development. The demand for water is increasing in rural area
of Ethiopia due to climate change and increase of population at current times. In
the last decades the demands for water were covered by spring, rivers and hand dig
water wells. However due to agricultural based industrialization policy of the
government, most rivers are now used for irrigation purpose and this hampers the
water demand of downstream dwellers in rural area. To bridge the gap the
government tries to use hand pumps and diesel based water pumps in different part
of the country to exploit the ground water for drinking and livestock watering. The
problem of using diesel generator for water pumping in rural area are high running
cost due to continuous fuel supply and high maintenance and repair cost .
Sometimes the maintenance of diesel generator needs high skilled technician which
may be not available at the site. Poor road infrastructure and associated cost further
increase the running cost of diesel based water pumping system. Hand pumps are
simple to operate and have small running cost, but the amount of water pumped
per minute may not be sufficient for the rural community. The main advantage of
hand pumps is that they are one of the most economical and simple solutions for
providing a collective supply of drinking water in rural areas. They also help to
eliminate the risks of people, and children in particular, falling into open wells and
improve the conditions of hygiene under which water is drawn off, by eliminating
the use of buckets of uncertain cleanliness, thereby limiting diseases associated
with contaminated water. The main disadvantage hand pump is the required
maintenance, the significant physical exertion required for pumping and the
potential difficulty of being supplied with spare parts which may not be easy to
obtain. This pump requires regular maintenance which must be carried out if the
pump is to be used on a sustainable basis. However, reliable solar photovoltaic PV
and wind turbine pumps are now emerging on the market and are rapidly becoming
more attractive than the traditional power sources. These technologies, powered by
renewable energy sources (solar and wind), are especially useful in remote locations
where a steady fuel supply is problematic and skilled maintenance personnel are
scarce. Photovoltaic (PV) is especially suitable for water pumping because energy
need not be stored for night pumping. Instead, water can be stored to supply water
at night

To distribute water fairly to the rural community, pumping it first to the tank and
then distributing it from the tank by using gravity is recommended. This way,
enough pressure can be built up at the water tank to distribute water by gravity.

Solar energy

The intensity of the solar radiation that reaches a PV array depends on the effect of
the suns angle on the array, the location of the array, the effects of the Earths
orbit around the sun, and the effects of the Earths daily rotation on its axis. The
principal geometric attribute of the PV array is its facing direction, which can be
characterized by a line perpendicular (normal) to the array surface. The orientation
of the array can be specified by the tilt angle and the azimuth angle. The tilt angle
is measured from the horizontal and is generally equal to the latitude of the PV
arrays location.

Pumps
There are two basic types of pumps:
Volumetric (positive displacement). These pumps operate by mechanically
advancing a sealed quantity of water by using several mechanisms such as pistons,
cylinders, and elastic diaphragms. The flow rate or speed of a positive displacement
pump is directly proportional to the motor speed and power output.
At low power input a positive displacement pump will pump a quantity of water to
the same vertical lift as high power input, except at slower rate. Because of this,
positive displacement pumps have a high starting torque as they must always work
against the full system pressure even at low speeds.
Centrifugal (rotodynamic) pumps. These pumps are designed for a fixed head,
meaning their efficiency decreases when the pumping head deviates from the
design point. Unlike volumetric pumps, a significant decrease in a rotor dynamic
pumps power supply can cause it to fail at delivering water from a borehole
because its vertical lifting capability is directly proportional to the power input.
A pump powered by directly
converting solar energy into electricity is called a PV pump, and is one of the most
reliable
technologies for pumping water from boreholes, rivers, lakes, shallow wells, and
canals
system, the PV array
output depends on the intensity of the solar radiation striking the PV array. The
amount of water
delivered by the PV array depends mainly on the amount of the solar radiation it
receives, which

depends on the location, the seasonal conditions, the size of the PV array, and the
performance of
the subsystem. Energy in the form of water produced by PV pumps can be stored
and batteries
for energy storage may not necessary
PV-powered water pumping system is simpler than any other pumping system. PVpowered
pumping systems have a PV array, a motor and pump set, and a water storage
mechanism. The
PV array converts the solar energy into DC electricity and the motor and pump
converts the
electrical output into hydraulic power. Through its distribution system, the storage
mechanism
delivers water to its point of use. The PV array can be directly coupled to a DC
motor, or to an
AC motor through an inverter

The water pumping subsystems must be matched properly with a PV array for
maximum use of
the system; however, it is problematic with many PV systems. The main problems of
the load
matching with a PV array power source are related to the nonlinear solar irradiance
and cell
temperature-dependent voltage and current characteristics of the PV array
generator. In general,
volumetric pumps are linear, and can use the energy from the sun with the smart
electronic
controller. Centrifugal pumps are nonlinear; hence, water production drops when the
pump
operates away from the designed point.

In a remote rural village, reliability might be the prime consideration

because maintenance
personnel for diesels, as well as fuels and spare parts, may be scarce. In an
environmentally
sensitive area, such as near an artificial reservoir, diesel systems are undesirable
because of the
potential risk of an oil spill. Some communities may view nearby wind turbines as
monsters.
Institutional aspects also feed into power source selection. If rural water supplies
are administered through a centralized government system, which is common in many
developing countries,
the rural water supply equipment will most likely be standardized, and power source
selection
may be limited to just a few standardized power source water-pumping systems.
This will help

minimize the problems related to the lack of spare parts, skilled labor, and shortage
of currency.
In many countries, trained maintenance personnel might be available for only a few
selected
power source systems.

Hand pumps can be ideal for single families or a few households in rural areas if the
hydraulic
equivalent load (the product of the daily water demand, V and the total pumping
head, h) does
not exceed 250 m4
/d. Hand pumps operate best in shallow wells (as deep as 15 meters). Pumping
is more difficult with deeper wells. Depending on per capita water consumption,
hand pumps can
serve as many as 1,000 people in rural areas.

AC PV pumps are ideal for communities of 2,0002,500 people and a hydraulic

equivalent load
of 1,500 m4/d. The hydraulic equivalent load of PV pumps can increase depending
on the intensity of solar radiation energy of the area and the size of the PV array. PV pumps for
small per
capita water consumption can serve as many as 4,000 people. DC PV pumps are
recommended
for smaller applications up to a hydraulic equivalent load of 600 m4/d.

Diesels are best for higher water demands and larger communities. They are more
economical,
with a hydraulic equivalent load greater than 1,500 m4/d. Mechanical diesel pumps
(positive

displacement pumps) do not depend on well depths and can operate at high
pumping heads with
minor losses, as long as the pump operates at the designed point and the system is
well matched.

A scientific article must answer the following basic questions:

What is the problem that is addressed?

 Why is it important?
How did you study the problem?
What are your results?
What are the implications of the results?
What do you recommend as further study for others?