Electrical design and installation of solar pumps

SOLAR PUMPING
Guidelines - Electrical design and installation of solar pumps
1
PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR PANELS (PV)
There are many types of solar panels and many denominations: monocrystalline, polycrystalline, Cadmium telluride (CdTe), 
CIGS, CIGSS, Amorphous Silicon (a-SI), ... All have advantages and disadvantages, different costs and performance ratios.
CdTe, CIGS, CIGSS, a-SI panels types are not recommended for solar pumping, for different reasons: they are difficult to 
replace (rare supply possibilities), they consume rare metals, present significant difficulties in terms of recycling, can generate 
long-term soil pollution if not recycled, ...
AAH programs should only use the two types of panels presented in Table 3 below.
TABLE 3:
RECOMMENDED TYPES OF SOLAR PANELS
TYPES OF PANELS 
MONOCRYSTALLINE (MONO-C)
POLYCRYSTALLINE (POLY-C)
Example image
Aspect of the cell
Cells are generally dark blue and uniform
Cells are generally clear blue and crystals are 
visible
Performance ratio
13 to 17%
11 to 15%
Advantages
• 
Better performance ratio than PolyC in
 
low light conditions
•
Longer life time than PolyC
• 
Cheaper than MonoC
•
Low carbon footprint
•
Low sensitivy to temperature fluctuations
Disadvantages
• 
Higher price than PolyC
•
Low performance with high temperature
• 
Lower performance than PolyC
•
Life time a little bit shorter than MonoC
These types of panels are very similar and can be installed interchangeably: polycrystalline is slightly cheaper than 
monocrystalline but has a lower performance. In order to deliver the same power a larger surface of polycrystalline must 
be installed; its lower cost is therefore not so beneficial anymore. The two solutions are almost equivalent in terms of 
performance and price, therefore their availability on the market is often a more important criterion than the performance 
ratio.