Evaluation of the Economic and Environmental Aspects of Using Photovoltaic Water Pumping System

摘要

Desertic areas suffer from a lack of water, whether for drinking or irrigation. Moreover, the wide speared of these areas makes connecting it with electricity lines tough and expensive. Stand-alone Photovoltaic (PV) array showed it effectiveness in solving these problems in many places of the world. In this paper, the Software HOMER and REPS.OM used as numerical methods to design a PV water pumping system suitable for Omani rural and desertic areas depending on hourly meteorological data. The optimum design used to supply an irrigation pumping system. The selected system capital cost as well as its energy costs compared to diesel generator and systems in literature. The comparison shows that the proposed system results in a proper cost of energy and lower environmental pollution.