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Feasibility of Solar Power for Water Distribution in Adu

Achi

Nathaniel Hanna Holloway and Michelle Nahas

Abstract

The Engineers Without Borders – USA, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign


Chapter has undertaken as project to supply water to the village of Adu Achi, Nigeria.
This report presents the results of a feasibility study to determine if using solar power is
the most economically viable option to power the pump for the water distribution system.
After determining the power requirements for the system it was determined that solar
would not be a viable option at an initial investment of close to $2 million.

Problem Statement

The village of Adu Achi is not connected to electric grid. Therefore, it is necessary to
investigate other ways of producing the power necessary to power the pump for the water
distribution system.

Objectives

The main objective of the solar team was to complete a feasibility study of solar energy
as an option for powering the pump for the water distribution system, and compare
results with the feasibility study performed by the Genset team. Completing this objective
required several intermediate objectives. The first and most important was determining
what equations were needed for the feasibility model. For these equations the relevant
input parameters and data needed to be collected, creating other intermediate objectives.
The equations and input parameters will be presented in the Method section of this
report. Another objective was to determine how to develop the model. This included
looking into using HOMER, a software program developed by the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory. Ultimately, Microsoft Excel was used to develop the feasibility
model.

Method

The feasibility model incorporates a few basic equations and one major assumption.
Before presenting the equations the assumption under which the system is designed to be
operating should be presented:

• The system is designed to be operating as a “day use” system.

A “day use” system is a solar power system that does not include battery storage. A “day
use” system was chosen for the design because of the extra cost of batteries (having to
replace them every 5-10 years) and the decreased system efficiency with batteries.

One important item to note is the results of this study are based on the worst case
scenario. This means using the highest daily water demand and month with lowest solar
irradiation (available solar energy), these being 800 m3/day and September respectively.
The month of September has an average daily irradiation of 3.5 kWh/m2 or 3.5 peak sun
hours (PSH) as can be seen in Figure 1 below. The optimal angle of inclination of the
solar panel is 12 degrees from horizontal facing due south.
Average Daily Irradiation at 12 degree inclination

5
kWh/m^2/day
4

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Month

Figure 1. Average Daily Irradiation for Adu Achi, Nigeriai


Equations
The first equation necessary to developing the model is an equation that will determine
how much power the motor that drives the pump will require. One important assumption
to note is the neglect of headloss due to friction, as well as local headlosses, in the ∆p
term. Neglect of headloss due to friction is a safe assumption because PVC pipe will be
used for the borehole; PVC has a Hazen-Williams surface roughness coefficient of 0.0ii.
The equation used is presented belowiii:

∆p * Q *16.3
P=
e

Where:
P = motor power required(Watts)
∆p = change in pressure (meters)
Q = peak flow (l/min)
e = pump efficiency (%)
The peak flow term is calculated by the following equation:
 1000l 
Daily _ demand *  
 1m 3 
Q=
 60 s 
PSH *  
 1hr 
This equation gives the peak flow rate in liters per minute.

The pressure term was determined by the following equation:


∆p = z2 − z1
Where:
z2 = storage tank elevation (m)
z1 = water table elevation , datum (m)
Note: referred to as borehole depth in

The amount of power required from the panels can be determined from the following
equationiii:
Solar _ array _ output = P * F
Where:
P= motor power (Watts)
F = loss multiplier = 1.2

The cost for the Photovoltaic system was determined by using an estimation of
$10/Wattiv. This cost estimation includes the entire system (panels, pump, wiring,
inverters, etc.).

Results

As stated before the results of this feasibility study are for the critical conditions, being:
highest daily demand and lowest average daily irradiation. Results for these are
presented in Table 1 below:
Daily demand 800 m3/day
Daily demand (m3/day) 800
Peak Sun Hours 3.5
Borehole depth (m) 150
Loss Multiplier 1.2

Peak flow (liters/min) 3,810


Pump efficiency (%) 60

Motor Power (Watts) 155,238


Solar array output
(Watts) 186,286
PV system cost ($/W) 10

Initial PV
Cost $1,863,000
Table 1. Input Parameters, Power calculations and Cost calculations

Conclusions

In conclusion, a stand alone solar power system would require a 155 kW motor with the
entire system costing approximately $1,863,000. Upon inspection the cost is
prohibitively high. With the results being what they are solar is not a viable option for
the water distribution system. It would be nearly impossibly for EWB-UIUC to raise this
amount of money in a timely fashion.
References
i
European Commission Joint Research Centre. “PVGIS: Solar Irradiation Data”. Accessed 5/18/2007.
<http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps/radmonth.php?lang=en&map=africa>.
ii
Hazen-Williams Coefficients. Accessed 5/18/2007.
<http://www.lmnoeng.com/surface.htm#Hazen%20Williams%20Coefficients>.
iii
Green Empowerment. Solar Pumping System (SPS) – Introductory and Feasibility Guide. Accessed 5/18/2007.
<http://greenempowerment.org/SPSManual3.pdf>.
iv
Personal Communication. Michel Maupoux. Green Empowerment.

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