Dynamic Performance Assessment Through Simulated Model of Photovoltaic Water Pumping System for Off-Grid Communities

The provision of the clean drinking water in remote and energy constrained areas have been a persistent problem in the developing world. Developing countries in general have financial constraints to expand electric grid, thus impeding the energy servicing for essential provisions. To this end, Solar photovoltaic-powered water pumping systems (SPVWPS) have long been explored as a highly potent solution for provision of water in off-grid areas. In this context, many modeling exercises have been conducted to develop customized and optimal solutions for specific climatic conditions of different regions in the world. Most of these models simulate or validate critical aspects of the systems, such as pumped volumetric flow using climatic data as model input. These models are centered around different aspects of the energy conversion chain and models of solar photovoltaic arrays. It is rare to see models involving the volumetric flow rate by users as an input parameter. This study incorporates volumetric flow rate of the water usage as an input parameter. Such a model has not been developed and simulated for particular climatic conditions of Pakistan. This study used climatic data (Ambient Temperature and Irradiance) and water usage volumetric flow rate as input parameters. The water usage flow rate helps incorporate user behavior in the model, an under explored research gap in such SPVWPS models. The model was simulated on MATLAB Simulink, using the climatic data for Lahore, Pakistan. The representative reliability of the system design were assessed. The model serves as a simple, yet effective tool to gauge the reliability of SPVWPS designed on a static lump sum water demand basis in a dynamic setting. This reduces the chances of the over or under sizing the system and gives a preliminary estimate of the need and feasibility to incorporate cutting-edge technologies such as AI in such systems.