Financial Analysis of Diesel and Solar Photovoltaic Water Pumping Systems

This chapter presents the financial analysis of the existing diesel-operated water pumping systems (WPS) used in the remote areas of Tamilnadu, India. The cost analysis of the conventional WPS (diesel pump) is compared with the solar photovoltaic water pumping system (SPV WPS). The SPV WPS uses either an induction motor (IM) or a brushless DC (BLDC) motor. The induction motor powered SPV WPS can be considered as an alternate solution for replacing the existing electric motor pumps and the diesel powered pumps. In addition, the comparison extends to the enhanced BLDC motor operated SPV WPS. The diesel-operated system and AC motors such as IM and BLDC motor operated are compared based on the life cycle cost of these systems. The cost analysis for the three WPS shows that BLDC operated SPV WPS is a cost-effective solution for the induction motor operated SPV WPS and the diesel powered WPS.