ABSTRACT
From the beginning of my involvement in PV, I always believed that solar water pumping should be one of the first important applications of PV in developing countries, where water was needed for people and animals and for irrigation. It is very much needed where rivers or lakes were far away or the area was arid. Also in developed countries where electric power was not available, water was needed for people and animals. I was very surprised that the application of solar water pumping had a very slow start and how this idea was started in reality.Besides myself, several other people also believed this, but the beginning of the utilization of solar water pumping I am describing here is a story which never happened, but the reality was not far from it. I assumed that the first application could be a demonstration project in the western part of Africa, where the water table is close to the surface and not much electric power is needed to pump up sufficient amount of water for the people and animals in an area, which has no electricity, is very poor and badly needs the water. I believed
that one of the organizations involved to solve developing countries’ needs may initiate such a program. It really happened. A Request for Proposal (RFP) was initiated by one of those organizations to study the need and possible utilization of solar water pumping in Western Africa and also demonstrating PV water pumping.I was very glad to read the RFP and expected that we could submit a bid to supply the PV system when requested by the company which would be selected and receive the contract. The organization selected a consulting group and awarded the contract. We did not receive a request to bid on a PV water pumping system. As it turned out, some employees of the consulting group made several trips to West Africa to study “the need and possible utilization of solar water pumping” and assembled their report. The report clearly described that the utilization of PV to supply the demand for water in the Western African region was a very good idea.The trips and the work to assemble the study basically exhausted the money allocated for the contract and there was only money left to “demonstrate the PV water pumping” which was sufficient to buy a small aquarium, a water pump used for small aquariums, a lamp, and a small PV module to power the aquarium pump. When the lamp was turned on, it was demonstrated that PV could be used to pump water.This demonstration system with an artistic rendering of a PV system and a reservoir in which one could see the water from the pump pouring in, surrounded by admiring natives and some animals, was exhibited in the sponsor organization’s reception area. The receptionist turned on the lamp every morning and turned it off in the evening when she left and during the working hours every visitor could admire the utilization of PV for pumping water from the aquarium back into the aquarium and its planned application in developing countries.
