PERFORMANCE OF SUBMERSIBLE PV SOLAR PUMPING SYSTEMS UNDER CONDITIONS IN THE SUDAN

Water pumping for domestic use and irrigation purposes can be consider ed as one of the basic needs in the rural areas of Sudan. For the favo urable solar radiation conditions in the country (6 kW h/m(2)/day), so lar water pumping may be a competitive application against diesel-driv en pumps for remote areas. Three SP4-8 Grundfos submersible pumps, ins talled at three different locations in the country, were evaluated. Tw o of these pumps were driven by M-51 Arco Solar modules, while the thi rd was driven by M-53 Arco Solar modules. For each of these pumps, sol ar radiation in the plane of the PV array, ambient temperature, PV arr ay voltage and current, water discharge and water delivery pressure we re monitored using a data logger. Grundfos solar pumps used in the Sud an have proven in most cases to be reliable. However, their performanc e was 10-25% less than predicted by the manufacturer's literature. In general the product of the daily water demand (m(3) per day) and the t otal pumping head (m) should not exceed 750 m(4) for sites with good s olar radiation.