Optimization of a solar water pumping system in Progreso, Amazonas, Colombia : Minor field study

Abstract: In the villages along the Amazon river, the access to clean drinking water is lacking. In Progreso, the Swedish foundation Ankarstiftelsen and the non-governmental organization Entropika have installed a water purification system to solve this problem. The water used in the purification system is today pumped from a tributary to the Amazon river with a gasoline pump. This comes with social, ecologic and economic problems. To solve these problems, a solar water pumping system has been developed. After a preparing literature study on the topic, a field study was done to find relevant data. From this, an Excel program was made to optimize a suitable solution. Together with suggestions from three companies, two with a surface pump and one with a submersible pump, the system including a submersible pump was considered the most preferable. This mainly due to lower cost, weight and maintenance. Further, the suggestions were used to control the accuracy of the developed Excel program. This program can be used for future optimizations of systems with similar character.