Solar photovoltaic water pumping—opportunities and challenges

Solar photovoltaic water pumping (SPVWP) is a cost-effective application in remote locations in developed countries. The economy and reliability of solar electric power made it an excellent choice for remote water pumping. Ranchers in the western US, Canada, Mexico, and Australia are the biggest portion of the SPVWP system users. Water sources are spread out in the ranchland and power lines are not readily available and refueling and maintenance of stand alone generators is not cost effective. But in the developing countries, where drinking water is number one priority for most of the population the SPVWP has not achieved a great success yet. Even though, the SPVWP has significant advantages a lot of challenges are associated with the SPVWP, especially in operation and maintenance. This paper discusses some policies to make the SPVWP system an appropriate technology for the respective application region.