Sensitivity Analysis of Photovoltaic Pumping Systems for Domestic Water Supply

A sensitivity analysis is carried out on the parameters of a photovoltaic water pumping system (PVWPS) for domestic water supply in rural areas. The results show that the photovoltaic modules peak power, the motor-pump efficiency, and the water tank volume strongly influence the system performance. This highlights that these parameters constitute judicious optimization variables. Besides, the cost of the motor-pump, the cost of the water tank, and the lifetime of the PVWPS have the largest impact on the system cost. These six parameters are therefore of primary importance for the technoeconomic optimal sizing of the system. Finally, it is shown that the hydraulic losses play a minor role and that it is not necessary to consider the evolution of the ambient temperature when modeling PVWPS for domestic water supply. This study can be useful to nongovernmental organizations, companies, and governments which install PVWPS for domestic water access. It can help them to determine the accuracy at which a given parameter has to be known to correctly model or size these systems. Besides, it can allow them to evaluate the robustness of PVWPS sizing to parameters variation with time and may guide their choice of components.