Resumen de Experience with a surface floating PV pumping system: a case study in Khartoum
In a country like Sudan, where the power grid extension is limited to a small area, and fuel shortages and road inaccessibility cause major problems in providing the basic energy needs to rural areas, small scale PV systems could be a comparable application against diesel driven units. One of the main needs is water pumping for drinking, as well as irrigation purposes, so PV power pumping systems could be one of the solutions to the growing energy demand in rural areas. Such systems should ensure high reliability and low/no maintenance cost, otherwise they cannot compete with conventional systems, even in the long term. Therefore, the investigation of the field behaviour of new products is essential to characterize such designs under prevailing conditions. In this paper, a surface floating PV pumping system's performance and its technical feasibility under Khartoum's climatic conditions are investigated. Technical problems encountered with the operation of this system are clearly defined, and suggestions for design modification are advanced.
