Water Pumping in Developing Countries

摘要

An analysis of the costs of mechanized irrigation in developing countries is presented. Both conventional (oil, electric) and renewable (solar, wind, biomass) energy sources have been considered as prime movers for small irrigation pumps. A range of renewable energy options, photovoltaic cell arrays powering electric pumpsets, windmill pumpers of the classic American type, and bio-gas powered engines, have been analyzed and the costs of irrigation pumping have been determined as functions of the appropriate variable (cell array prices, solar and wind availability, etc.) in each case. The study highlights the importance of more extensive data collection on renewable resource availability in DCs as well as the need for examining decentralized renewable resource technology in an integrated context of rural energy use.