The 2017 International Conference on Control, Electronics, Renewable Energy and Communications (ICCEREC)
Design of Solar Water Pumping System in Urban
Residential Building
(Case Study: Yogyakarta, Indonesia)
Prisma Megantoro
Department of Electrical Engineering and Information
Technology
Universitas Gadjah Mada
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
prisma.megantoro@mail.ugm.ac.id
Eka Firmansyah
Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
Universitas Gadjah Mada
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
eka.firmansyah@ugm.ac.id
Abstract— In residential building sector, the provision of clean
water is the one of primary need. The water pump used to do that
matter. The technology for renewable energy source, i.e. Solar
Water Pumping System (SWPS) will help the society in this sector
to decrease the electricity consumption for providing clean water.
The SWPS converts the solar energy into electricity. Then, the
electricity used to activate the water pump[1][2].
This article discussed about the SWPS design used to
residential areas in the urban life of Yogyakarta and the
surroundings. Method for designing this system is taken to
consider water needs and the potential of solar energy in the area.
The consideration factor is building topology, like shading effect
and the orientation of roof. With these terms, the system can
operate optimally, has high reliability, and suitable to be applied
on site. This technology is expected to be able to reduce one of the
most high electricity usage in the residential sector, i.e water
pumping. The design results that the SWPS uses 600 Wp of the
total amount of PV power, 1.2 kW of the Solar Charge Controller
(SCC), and 225 W of the inverter. The water pump has the
maximum of 150 W on the total head is 9 meters. The whole
components of the system is appropriate technology.
Keywords—Solar Water Pumping System; water needs;
electricity; urban area
I. INTRODUCTION
Solar photovoltaic water pumping system has been a
promising area of research for more than 50 years. In the early
70s, efforts and studies were undertaken to explore the
possibility of this system as feasible, viable and economical
mean of water pumping[1][3]. Moreover, the importance of
solar energy to power the water pumps increases due to the
continuous depletion of oil reserves, uneven distribution and
ever-increasing cost of electricity, which is a major area of
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Fransisco Danang Wijaya
Department of Electrical Engineering and Information
Technology
Universitas Gadjah Mada
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
danangwiyaya@ugm.ac.id
concern for developing countries like Indonesia. Many urban
activities depend on an adequate supply of freshwater[4].
The proper selection of technology and size of these
components is essential for stable and efficient operation of PV
system. Water ground pumped on daytime and saved in a water
tank[5]. The important thing is that the demand of solar energy
using to supply the water pump in the residential area is
increasing along the increasing of electricity bill. This demand
because this system needs minimum maintenance and fuel
free[6]. The development of this residential sector is increasing
significantly on developing country like Indonesia where the
needs of clean water is very important[7][8].
A comprehensive review of design procedure of different PV
system configurations has been presented. An up to date survey
of modeling equations for simulating PV power, cell
temperature, PV efficiency and battery state of charge[7].
II. MODELLING OF SWPS
The methods use to determine the clean water needs of a
single household. Then the solar energy potential is obtained to
calculate the number of every SWPS components needed.
Therefore, the system which is designed can provide the clean
water need optimally for a household located in Yogyakarta.
A. Clean Water Daily Needs
The needs of total clean water per day to one single
household can be calculated with this equation.
V = n x k (1)
Where; is total volume of daily need, n is the amount
of family member, k is v, i.e 150 liter (Planning Criteria of
Directorate General of Cipta Karya, Department of Public
Works, 1996)
The 2017 International Conference on Control, Electronics, Renewable Energy and Communications (ICCEREC)

Households in Indonesia has 4 members in average. For suction power 12 meters, discharge = 30 liter per
every single day, the SWPS should provide the Vtotal 600 liters minute, and operational voltage 220 VAC.
of clean water for food and hygiene.
Fig 1 shows that the SWPS does not need the battery storage
to store the energy, but it is stored as a water in the reservoir.
B. Solar Energy Potential This system activates once in every single day to pump water
Yogyakarta is located at coordinates and 7.5 Latitude and - from ground. SWPS is designed to fulfill the Vtotal in once
110.5 Longitude. The sun insolation data of the location is pumping. The spent time used to activate pump calculated by
obtained from the center of the RETScreen climate data. equation below:
Table 1. Secondary data from center of the RETScreen t = (2)
( )
climate data, Monthly Averaged Midday Insolation Incident
on A Horizontal Surface (kWh/m2). Every single cycle of water pumping will spend = 20
Sun Insolation minutes. Then, the calculation of energy needs in a single day
Month shown on equation below.
(kWh/m2)
January 0,51
E =kxPxt (3)
February 0,55
Where; is the energy (kWh), k is the number of loads,
March 0,55
P is power (watt), and t is usage time (hour). With the t is
April 0,56 and P is P , also k is the number of water pump used,
May 0,56 then the total number of energy in a single day is 50 Wh.
June 0,56 Calculation of capacity of the solar modules that is installed
July 0,59 in an array to fulfill the energy needs. In the calculation below,
the peak sun hour (PSH) is ignored because the system activate
August 0,65
only for less than 1 hour. The power generated by the solar array
September 0,69 P should provide the energy needed for one single cycle of
October 0,68 water pumping, with the consideration of P . The
November 0,61 calculation shown in equation below.
December 053 P = (4)
( )
Minimum 0,51
Maximum 0,69 Where; P is peak power (watt-peak), P is the
pump’s power needed when it start (Watt), k is efficiency from
Average 0,59
the losses. Then P is the comparison between the
minimum insolation P on location and the maximum
The value of insolation used to calculate the need of solar insolation P =1000 W/m2 on STC (standardized test
panels is the average value by the minimum for each month, i.e condition). This value will determine the exact output of the
= 0.51 kWh/m2. By retrieving the value of the solar array when it is attached to the location whereas the
minimum, we expected that SWPS system can work optimal insolation in that area usually less than in the STC.
even in the condition is at rainy season.
P = (5)
The analysis of the energy needs is provided by solar panels
which are obtained from the amount of energy consumed by the The losses of the solar-pv system is the sum of every
load per day. This SWPS only has one load i.e the water well efficiency of the component attached to the system.
pump with specifications of; steady power P =150
Watt, starting power P = 300 Watt, maximum

Fig 1. Block diagram of the SWPS

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The 2017 International Conference on Control, Electronics, Renewable Energy and Communications (ICCEREC)

Table 2. Total losses of a solar-pv system The calculation of voltage and current specification must
fulfilled.
Percent of
Eficiency V = n x Voc (7)
No Losses Losses
(%)
(%)
1 PV Temperature loss 12 88 Where n is the number of strings
2 PVdirt/shading loss 5 95
3 PV Tolerance 5 95 V = 44,2 Volt (8)
4 SCC 5 95
5 Battery losses 20 80
I = (Isc x n x 1,5) (9)
6 Inverter 8 92 Where n is the number of panel on the string, I =
7 Wiring losses 3 97 24,75 A. Then the maksimum power of the SCC is required to
Eficiency total ( ) 54 1093, 95 Watt. It will rounded up to 1,2 kW.
Generally, the number of inverter power capacity is
With the consideration of the total losses, the system should determined by the total loads. Because this system only has one
generates 544.6 Wp at least. The number of solar module if we load, i.e the water pump, so that the inverter power is only
used the 200 Wp solar module calculated by the equation below. determined by the water pump power.
C = (6) Every inductive load, such as the water pump has the
overshoot current, called by the “in-rush current” that affect the
The minimum number of solar module is 2.72 unit. It is amount of power consumed in the start-up time P .
rounded to 3 unit to configured as one single string. This effect will require the inverter to have more power capacity,
generally ten times greater, to start the pump. But in this system,
the inverter will have addition feature to control the in-rush
current. With this feature, the load will have less P to
be almost equivalent with the P , because the in-rush
current is decreasing, although the activation time of the pump
will go slower. The power capacity of the inverter will calculated
one-half times to the P , 225 Watt with the input
voltage is 24 V, because the SWPS used 24 V as operation
voltage.

III. IMPLEMENTATION
The list of material or component of the SWPS described in
Fig 2. (a) configuration of solar modules in array, (b) Table 3.
condiguration of solar array wiring in combiner box. Table 3. The list of materials of the SWPS system

C. Solar Charge Controller No. Component Amount

1 Surface pump 1
The number of SCC determine by the short current and the 2 Solar module 3
open voltage of the solar array. With the specification of each 3 Solar Charge Controller 1
solar module is: 4 Inverter 1

• Typical Max Power (Pmax) : 200 WP

• Voltage at Power Max (Vmp) : 36.53 V
• Current at max power (Imp) : 5.35 A
• Short-circuit current (Isc) : 5.50 A
• Open-circuit voltage (Voc) : 44.2 V

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The 2017 International Conference on Control, Electronics, Renewable Energy and Communications (ICCEREC)

Fig 3. Single line diagram of the SWPS

Fig 4. Wiring diagram of the SWPS

With the technical specification of each component is designed

as follows. d) Inverter
• Input Voltage (Mode Inverter)
a) Shallow Well Pump:
Nominal Voltage : 24 VDC
• Power Continuous : 150 Watt Float Charging Voltage : 22 – 30 VDC
• Power Start-up : 300 Watt • Output (Mode Inverter)
• Suction head : Max 9 m Power Continuous : 300 W
• Total Head : 11 - 17 m Voltage : 220 VAC ± 5%
Frequency : 50/60 Hz ±0,1%
b) Solar module: Wave Form : Sine wave
• Cell type : Monocristaline • Max Effiency : >=85%
• Typical Max Power (PMAX) : 200 Wp + 3% • Operating Temperature : 0-45° C
• Voltage at Power Max (VMP) : 37.53 V • Operating Relative Humidity : 0 – 95%
• Current at max power (IMP) : 5.35 A
• Short-circuit current (ISC) : 5.50 A
• Open-circuit voltage (VOC) : 44.2 V IV. CONCLUSION
c) Solar Charge Controller The SPWS design has been made for urban residential
sector, i.e household with Indonesian average family number of
• Nominal : 24 VDC
4 people, considering solar energy potential and building
• Low Voltage Cut Off : 22 VDC topology. Also the characteristic of the building in urban area i.e
• Maximum Charging Current : 30 A the orientation that affects to direct insolation from the sun, the
• Efficiency : >90 % system can operate optimally and continuously to supply clean
• Operating Temperature : 0-45° C water and reduce the electricity bill in households.
• Operating Relative Humidity : 0 – 95%

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The 2017 International Conference on Control, Electronics, Renewable Energy and Communications (ICCEREC)
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