2014 4th International Conference on Engineering Technology and Technopreneuship (ICE2T)

Solar Water Pumping Optimization for Domestic

Use in Kota Bharu, East Coast of Peninsular
Malaysia
W.Mustafa, M.F.Humar, K.P.Zakaria, H. Hamid
Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysia France Institute,
Section 14, Jalan Teras Jernang, 43650 Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
1

wanmustafa@mfi.unikl.edu.my

AbstractThis paper presents the feasibility and optimization

analysis of submersible water pumping system application in
East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The main objective of this
study is to design the optimum sizing of system components
through HOMER software ( Hybrid Optimization of Multiple
Energy Resources ) to fullfill the requirement of 2.2 kWh/d DC
primary load with 1.9 kWp load. The simulation result show the
optimal sizing of 1.5 kW photovoltaic system , 12 batteries of 220
Ah with 36 V system voltage and 300 W of converter. This
configuration is the most technically feasible to lift a water of 30
liters/min at 70 meters depth.
Keywords: Solar Water Pumping, Photovoltaic, Optimization,
HOMER

I. INTRODUCTION
Recently, water supply is a problem increasingly
faced by the people in the state of Kelantan. The main cause
identified is the low water pressure from the treatment plant to
the transmission pipeline system. Among the affected area in
district of Kota Bharu is Seribong village which located at
6o3 North, 102o15 East and 8 km from the city of Kota
Bharu. According to residents, the water supply problem is
getting worse, especially during the school holidays and
festive season. As a solution, the villagers have to find another
method of using water from a nearby reservoir for everyday
use as well as for washing and drinking. With the
contaminated water reservoir, the villagers once again faced
with health problems.
An alternative method to solve this problem is to
introduce solar water pumping system. With an annual
average solar radiation of 5.1 kWh/m2/day, this area shows a
high potential for developing solar water pumping system for
domestic use. Electric water pumps that using alternating
current are generally not built to operate very efficiently due
to no limitation to the amount of power available [1].
In recent years, solar water pump has been designed
for use with direct current supplied by the PV modules. Solar
pumps are available in a wide range of types and sizes. The
smallest solar pumps require less than 150 watts and can
pump at 6.82 liters per minute [2]. Low maintenance, easy to
install, simple and reliable are the major factor why many
people choose solar water pumping technology. Despite lower
output in cloud weather, this problem can be overcome by

installing battery bank as for energy backup and particularly

useful at night, when the storage tank can not meet the
demands.
Many researchers reported the application of solar
water pumping system for small irrigation. Abdelmalek et al
[3] performed experimental study on directly coupled dc
photovoltaic powered water pumping system. They
discovered this system suitable for low head irrigation with
motor pump efficiency did not exceed than 30 %. A.Hamidat
et al [4] presented the electrical and hydraulic performance of
a surface centrifugal pump versus water head and size of
photovoltaic array for small scale irrigation under Sahara
climate conditions. From result analysis, they concluded that
surface pump is suitable for installation in the Sahara regions
with low water head. Ghoneim [5] describes computer
simulation for photovoltaic powered water pumping system
optimization in the Kuwait climate.
This paper focused on feasibility and optimization of
solar water pumping system for small-scale application to
support water supply demand for villagers in Seribong, Kota
Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia.
II. SOLAR WATER PUMPING SYSTEM
In order to design and successfully implement solar
water pumping system, several concepts as well as
information specific need to consider. This includes :

Daily water requirements and usage.

For this system, water needs for a family is estimated at
280 liters per day. Therefore, the storage tank capacity of
2000 liters , which is able to meet the daily needs for 7 days
was selected for this system.
The total dynamic head
Total dynamic head ( TDH ) is the total equivalent vertical
distance that the pump must move the water or the pressure
the pump must overcome to move the water to a certain height.

2014 4th International Conference on Engineering Technology116

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2014 4th International Conference on Engineering Technology and Technopreneuship (ICE2T)

water at 30 liters/min with systems total dynamic head of 70

meters deep. For control strategy, two level sensors are placed
on the top of storage tank .In order to ensure that the tank is
always full of water to meet daily needs. If the water in the
tank decreases the capacity of 600 liters, low level sensor will
send a signal to the controller to turn on the pump until high
level sensor will stop the operation. Based on the given data,
this pump required 20 minutes to lift of 600 liters of water.
This control strategy is very important to ensure that batteries
work in the short term and it will prolong battery life.

High Level
600 liters
PV Modules

Low Level

Water storage
tank

S ta tic w a ter level = 65 m

Pump
controller

D yna m ic w ate r level = 5 m

Batteries bank

DC water
pump

Fig.1 . Schematic diagram of solar water pumping system

Designed flow rate

This system as illustrated in figure 1, is designed to meet

the capacity of total head of 70 m, with estimated static water
level equivalent to 65 m and dynamic water level is 5 m deep.
Available sunlight
Data from Malaysia Meteorological Department [6}, the
annual average solar radiation in Kota Bharu is 5.1
kWh/m2/d . From this data, it shows a high potential for the
development of solar water pumping system.
Pump flow rate
The pump design flow rate is based on the operation
estimated daily water needs and is determined via equation
( 1).
Flow rate, Q ( liter/m ) = ( Total daily water requirement )
( Peak sun hours x 60 minutes/hour )

Fig. 2. Submersible pump chart

(1)

IV. SIMULATION

III. SOLAR WATER PUMP

For this system, 1.1 kW, 110 Vdc submersible
helical rotor with brushless motor water pump was selected.
Two level sensors for high and low water level detection is
used to send a signal to pump controller in order to control the
pump in automatic mode. Table 1, illustrated the detail
specification of selected solar water pump system.

A computer software HOMER ( Hybrid Optimization

of Multiple Energy Resources ) was used to analyse the
possible use of solar energy on a water pumping system.
HOMER simplifies the task of evaluating designs of both offgrid and grid connected power systems for a variety of
applications [7]. Five input data such as solar resources,
photovoltaic panels, batteries bank, converter and dc load
profile were chosen for this simulation. This simulation is
focused on technical performance of water pump systems
components. The configuration system is shown in figure 3.

TABLE 1 : Solar water pump specification

Type

Rated
voltage
(V)

Rated
power
(W)

Maximum
flow
( m3/h )

Maximum
head
(m)

Outlet
( inch )

Submersible

110

1100

75

1.25 2.0

With reference to the pump chart which provided by

pump manufacturer in figure 2, this pump capable to lift a

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2014 4th International Conference on Engineering Technology and Technopreneuship (ICE2T)

Fig.3. HOMER system configuration

Fig.4. Monthly average solar resource

For daily average solar resource, the result shown in

figure 5 . It is indicated that the highest value occurred
between time 12..00 pm to 14.00 pm with average value of
750 Wh/m2. This trend indicates a high potential for solar
panels to generate power throughout the year.

800
700
600
Incident solar, Wh/m2

Solar resource input was based on recorded data from

2010 to 2012. Measured solar resource data was obtained
from Malaysia Meteorological Department. Three different
rated power for photovoltaic panels ( 1.0 , 1.5 and 2.0 kW )
were considered for this simulation and 12 V, 55 Ah seal lead
acid with three batteries per string in series were arranged to
produce total voltage of 36 V. For sizing consideration, total
batteries of 4, 6, 8, 10 and 20 units were selected. The pump
controller rating input voltage which received from
photovoltaic panel is 100 Vdc and for charging batteries, this
controller required input voltage of 36 V connected to
batteries terminal. The controller size of ( 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0
kW ) were selected for simulation purposes. For dc load
profile, solar water pump was configured to turn on twice a
day which is in the morning and evening for duration of two
hours.

500
400
300
200
100

V. RESULT AND ANALYSIS

This section present and discusses the results

obtained from the simulation in HOMER. The computational
model runs multiple simulations to obtain the optimized
system configuration and performances.

Solar resource
Figure 4, describe the total monthly average solar
resource at Seribong village, Kota Bharu. The highest value of
solar resource was occurred between March to April with
5.603 kWh/m2/d and the lowest is between November to
December with reading of 4.59 kWh/m2/d. This scenario
occurs because at this time, the east coast of Peninsular
Malaysia experienced monsoon season and usually it lasts till
the month of January.

10

12
Local Time

14

16

18

Fig.5. Incident solar

System configuration
Results from simulations show that this water
pumping system can be operated with component
configuration consisting of 1.5 kW photovoltaic panels, 12
units of batteries ( 12V, 55Ah ) and 300 W charge controller.

Photovoltaic output power

For daily electric power production from
photovoltaic system, figure 5 shows a performance of
photovoltaic system. It is cleared stated that photovoltaic
system was running efficiently through out the day. It was
recorded that the highest output production is 919 W with an
average of 566.5 W/day. The total electric production was
estimated at 2,237 kWh/yr with 4,347 hours of operation per
year. While the photovoltaic panel penetration is 280 %.

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2014 4th International Conference on Engineering Technology and Technopreneuship (ICE2T)

simulation result it can be predicted that the lifespan

for these batteries is 6 years.

1.4

1.2

PV output
1.2

1
Power ( kW )

dc load

0.8

0.8
0.6

0.6

Power ( kW )

dc load
0.4

0.2

10

12
Local time

14

16

18

-0.6

Energy backup
The performance of batteries bank and photovoltaic
output was illustrated in figure 6. From simulation result, it
can be predicted that control strategy meeting the need of
water pumping system. In the morning, it can be observed that
the power supplied by the battery was low because, capability
of photovoltaic system to transmit power is high. While in the
evening, this system relies heavily on the battery. Even so, the
battery capacity is high because at this time the battery is in
full charged state.

0.8
0.6

PV output

0.2
0

Batteries

-0.2
-0.4
-0.6

10

12
Local Time

14

16

-0.8

10

12
Local Time

14

16

18

Fig.7. System stability

Proposed system components.

Monocrystaline 150W photovoltaic panel was
selected for this system. The peak voltage and current for this
panel are 17.5 V and 8.57 A. For 1.5 kW photovoltaic system,
it is required 10 pieces of 150 W panel connected in 5 panels
in series with 2 columns in parallel. While for batteries bank
system are arranged for 3 batteries ( 12 V, 55Ah ) connected
in series and 4 columns in parallel. For charge controller, 300
W , 10A or higher rating current was adequate.

VI. CONCLUSION
This paper presents a feasibility and optimization
analysis of submersible solar water pumping system for
domestic use in Seribong village, Kota Bharu district,
Kelantan. Two important components such as photovoltaic
and battery system are evaluated through optimization
analysis. Based on the analysis of system components, 1.5 kW
photovoltaic panels are capable to produce 2,237 kWh/yr of
electric energy and 12 unit of batteries with 52.1 hours of
autonomy. The proposed photovoltaic system utilizing total of
10 photovoltaic panels consists of two branches with 5
photovoltaic panels in series and for energy backup, 12 units
( 12 V, 55 Ah ) are arranged in four branches with 3 batteries
in series. These components are able to drive a submersible
water pumping system to lift a water at 70 m deep with flow
rate of 30 liters/min.

0.4

battery

-0.4

The pump was configured to turn on between 9.00

am to 11.00 am in the morning and between 16.00 pm to
18.00 pm in the evening. The peak sun hour was recorded
between 11.00am to 14.00 pm or equivalent to three hours.
During this period, photovoltaic output was utilized for
charging batteries bank.

Power ( kW )

0.2

-0.2
6

Fig.5. Photovoltaic system output production

-0.8

0.4

18

Fig.6. Batteries and photovoltaic system performance

System stability
The stability of the water pumping system was totally
dependent on batteries bank . 36V battery system with
220Ah capacity was enough to accommodate the water
pumping system. Figure 7, shows that in the morning
batteries discharge rate at 40 % while in the evening
discharge rate increased to 80 %. However, from

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systems in New York State, New York State Energy Research and
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2014 4th International Conference on Engineering Technology and Technopreneuship (ICE2T)

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directly-coupled PV water pumping system, Energy Conversion and
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