Vineyard Irrigated With A Solar Pump

By Author: Roger Fagan
Total Articles: 6
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As wine growers have a depressed market and the price of electricity is going through the roof with the addition of a possible carbon tax, they are looking at ways to reduce production costs. One solution is to irrigate the vineyard with a solar pump which once installed costs nothing to operate.

Recently a 5 acre vineyard was converted to solar irrigation using a 1000W direct current motor coupled to a multistage centrifugal solar pump. As the vineyard is watered by drip irrigation, a constant pressure of 23 KP was required. This was achieved by connecting the motor to 4 12V deep cycle batteries, charged by 8 90W solar panels on a solar tracker.

To ensure a uniform charging rate the power from the solar panels is connected to a 48V charge controller which also has an automatic switch to switch off the motor when the voltage drops to44.6V and switch on again when the voltage reaches 49V. This function ensures the batteries will not run flat.

In converting to a solar water pump, calculations were made to ensure the vineyard received the recommended application rate.

This was calculated on the formula ...
... of one mega liter per hectare per year which equates to 10,000L per day in summer in dry conditions.

The solar water pump delivers 80L/M and therefore needs just over two hours to supply the 10,000L required. As the battery charging panels are attached to a solar tracker which follows the sun, charging time in summer is extended to over ten hours. Therefore a larger vineyard or orchard could be irrigated using solar pumps with this set up.

This solar pump is also connected to 22 taps in the garden, orchard and stables, providing ample water at those times the vineyard is not being watered. In wet and heavy overcast conditions the fact that the charging rate is reduced does not matter as the vineyard does not require water at that time.

The beauty of solar water pumps is that they supply maximum water when it is most needed, that is in hot dry conditions in summer with long hours of sunshine.
Roger is the owner of Solar Pump and Tracker, Australia's leading supplier of Solar low voltage pumps, Solar trackers and Solar panels.