Comparative Study of a Pumping System Using Conventional and Photovoltaic Power in the Algerian Sahara (Application to Pastoral Wells)

Abstract

Many populations of isolated and rural areas around the world are facing major problems of water deficit in domestic needs, irrigation and grazing and remains the daily concern of the inhabitants and which are particularly accentuated in the arid and desert areas. In this context, several researchers have recently oriented their research to the solar system. This energy is clean and nonpolluting and its use provides an inexhaustible source of energy. Photovoltaic pumping is one of the applications of solar energy in remote sites where conventional electricity is absent, such as the Algerian Sahara, which has one of the highest solar deposits in the world which can exceed yearly 2263 kWh/m2. This solution represents the ideal technical method for supplying water from wells of groundwater. The main purpose of this work is to evaluate the reliability of solar pumping systems compared to a conventional power system applied to two experimental wells installed in an isolated pastoral region in the Algerian Sahara and precisely in the Ouargla region.The results showed that the generator pumping technique appears to be the least expensive at the beginning of the operation. The balance becomes clearly in favor of the solar pumping solution after a few years of operation (about 5 years), with a 50% benefit in the cost per cubic meter of water.