Water pumping in a system fed by photovoltaic panels.

The main objective of this paper is to evaluate a water pumping system powered by photovoltaic panels installed at Federal Technological University of Parana - UTFPR, in Medianeira, State of Parana, Brazil. The city is located at the West of Parana (25o17'43"; 54o03'38" and 500.7 meters - 1,642.72 feet). The system operated in a real working situation, pumping water to 20 meters (65.62 feet) of elevation. The data were collected, from February 2005 to November 2005, by means of a computerized data collector made by Campbell Scientific Inc that made possible to acquire and store irradiance values in the panel plane, generated current and voltage, panel temperature and outflow. Through calculations, the power and the system efficiency were obtained. Winter solstice showed 9.58% efficiency with daily pumping of 2,056 liters (543.14 gallons) whereas summer solstice confirmed 9.07% efficiency with daily pumping of 2,377 liters (627.86 gallons). The higher efficiency in winter days is associated to the lowest temperature in those days compared to summer days, and the factor that led to a larger pumped water outflow in the summer days was related to solar insolation time that is longer if compared to winter days.