Finding the Best Solar Pump and Panel for 1 HP Pump

[jack001]

hello PFs,

I am working on solar pump but unfortunately i am new to this. Confused which solar panel is best to buy for 1 HP pump. And even what type of pump to use. Want to make it as efficient and cheap as possible.

Thanks.

 

[etudiant]

A 1HP pump is pretty substantial.
You would need about 2000 watts steady state and about triple that for the starting surge. Noonday solar power is about 1000 watts/square meter and cell efficiency is about 10%, so you would need 60 square meters of solar cells, almost a solar field, to power your pump.
Afaik, the cost of solar cells is about a dollar a watt, maybe twice that installed.
So your installation pencils out around $10,000+/-. Is that cheap enough to be worth it?

 

[jack001]

thank you for your interest in the matter etudiant,

I am from India and i guess noonday solar power will be more..
One more thing i am confused, u said the cell efficiency is 10% only, what does that mean? I heard solar cell is most efficient way of converting into electricity.

and how do this people pumps water via using such a small solar cell?
http://www.solarpumps.com/files/QuickSiteImages/redcows_and_unit_pic_cropped.jpg

sorry if i am wrong anywhere coz i am new to this solar pumping thing.

 

[etudiant]

The 1000 watt/sq m is with the sun directly overhead, even in India.
The solar cell efficiency has been boosted to well over 50% in the lab, but commercially available product is nowhere near that. The 10% assumed is a good place to start from, it may be a bit more, but not enough to matter.
The solar pump setups you show are much smaller than the 1hp design the OP requested.

 

[jack001]

do you know any other way of pumping through solar without using solar cell? will solar concentrator work?