Electrical design and installation of solar pumps

Solution
Manual pumps.
For irrigation applications (long 
pumping duration), there are 
“motorized” manual pumps that 
offer the advantage of keeping a 
manual mode in case of problems.
« Solar » pumps, to be procured 
with their control box.
Possible to find AC or DC pumps.
Standard pump, powered by solar 
pumping inverter.
The pumps are powered with three-
phase alternating current (AC) and 
variable frequency in the very large 
majority of cases.
Type of Equipment 
(examples)
Small pump 
controller.
Solar pump 
inverter.
Example of brands 
and ranges of main 
suppliers
VOLENTA:
- One pump in the range but price 
and performances depends on 
borehole depth.
GRUNDFOS:
- Range SQFlex
LORENTZ:
- Range PS2 
GRUNDFOS:
- Range SP for the pump 
 - Range RSI for the inverter
LORENTZ:
- Range PSk2 (pump and inverter)

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11
SOLAR PUMPING
Guidelines - Electrical design and installation of solar pumps
Solar photovoltaic pumping is increasingly used within Action Against Hunger programs. It is being implemented in various 
environments where electrical skills are often not available, and recurring mistakes have been observed in the design and 
during system installation. 
This guide provides an overview of solar photovoltaic pumping, introducing basic sizing rules so you can self-check the 
number of panels proposed by a subcontractor and avoid common mistakes made by unskilled designers. Some of the most 
common mistakes are shown in Table 2 below.