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Limitations:
- Economic Viability:
Assessment of the economic viability of PVP systems in comparison to diesel pumping systems indicate that the limit for PV pumping is 5 kWp.
- Investment Costs: The high investment cost of PV pumping systems is a major factor to slowed expansion of the market. Although the life cycle cost of PV is often less than diesel or petrol-powered pumps, the investment cost of purchasing a PV pump is usually higher than that of diesel pumps. Groups purchasing water supplies often have limited funds and cannot take a long-term view toward the technology.
- Security: Experiences show that solar pumps should be installed in secure environments only. In remote unguarded locations, there is risk of the modules being stolen or vandalized.
- Infrastructure: PV pumping is a mature technology and problems are largely due to infrastructure and planning. Technicians and buyers are often unfamiliar with PV technology, and when pumps in remote locations do break down, there may be a lack of servicing, spare parts, or trained manpower to administer them. In reality, PV is much less maintenance intensive than diesel pumps.
- Need for water storage: Because PV only supplies water when the sun is shining, there is usually a need to build storage tanks to avail water when the sun is not shining. This adds extra cost to the investment.
- Low output of PV pumps: PV pumps are best suited for households, small communities or remote livestock needs. PV pump outputs are normally too low for large communities or irrigation requirements. For example, the Grundfos solar pump, designed for domestic water supply, pumping in an area with average insolation of 6 kWh/m2 day, will deliver approximately 6m3/day at 15 m head from a 0.25 kWp PV array. Such a system would cost approximately $ 4,500 for hardware excluding storage tank and pedestal.
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