Performance of monocrystalline and polycrystalline solar panels in a water pumping system in Brazil

Solar energy is a clean and renewable option for energy production, being used for several purposes, such as water pumping, which is one of the most disseminated technologies regarding the use of photovoltaic solar energy. This work was developed in order to assess a water pumping system activated by monocrystalline and polycrystalline photovoltaic panels set at the State University of West Parana – UNIOESTE, Cascavel-PR. The research showed that the daily average volumes of water pumped during the experiment were 3536.45 and 4182.55L respectively, for the monocrystalline and polycrystalline systems. Monocrystalline and polycrystalline photovoltaic panel efficiency was 9.40% and 6.57%, respectively. As for the system with complete pumping, the monocrystalline system presented an average global efficiency of 4.27%, at a cost for volume of water pumped and energy consumed during the system׳s life cycle of 0.10417 US$ m−3 and 0.70417 US$ kWh−1, respectively, whereas the polycrystalline system showed global efficiency of 5.00% and costs of 0.09583 US$ m−3 and 1.2917 US$ kWh−1.