Reliability, cost, and performance of PV-powered water pumping systems: a survey for electric utilities

Author

Stokes, Kuk ; Bigger, John

Author_Institution

NEOS Corp., Lakewood, CO, USA

Volume

8

Issue

3

fYear

1993

fDate

9/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

506

Lastpage

512

Abstract

Opportunities for electric utilities to utilize photovoltaic-powered systems to serve small utility and customer-owned loads have been documented by the Electric Power Research Institute and others. One application where PV-powered systems can save money for utilities and their customers is remote water pumping for ranch, farm, and domestic use. Information on system reliability, cost, and performance is key to utility management decisions regarding this alternative approach to serving their customers. A project was initiated by EPRI to obtain this information on PV-powered pumping systems installed in the western US. With assistance from three PV-pumping system suppliers, a survey was developed and mailed to 251 owners of PV-powered water pumping systems installed in the last five years. This paper presents the summary of the findings of that survey and includes information on owner preferences, system reliability and performance, and cost data

Keywords

economics; photovoltaic power systems; pumping plants; reliability; water supply; EPRI; Electric Power Research Institute; PV-powered water pumping systems; cost; customer-owned loads; domestic use; electric utilities; farm use; performance; ranch use; reliability; remote water pumping; survey; western US; Agriculture; Costs; Lakes; Photovoltaic systems; Power industry; Power system management; Power system reliability; Solar power generation; System performance; Water resources;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Energy Conversion, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-8969

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/60.257066

Filename

257066