An Evaluation of the use of Renewable Energy to Pump Water in Sacala Las Lomas, Guatemala

Abstract

An evaluation has been conducted to establish if using renewable energy is technically and economically feasible to pump water in Sacala las Lomas, Guatemala. A deep groundwater well has been proposed and a multi-stage pump system is being considered to distribute groundwater to users' homes. A weather station was erected in Sacala to collect site-specific data. Wind velocity, wind direction, solar insolation, temperature, precipitation, and barometric pressure data were collected over a 1-year study period. The analysis of the data indicated that the potential power generated by a photovoltaic array or wind turbine would be insufficient to economically pump water to the village under current conditions. Although there may be reasons other than economics that make the potential renewable energy applications attractive, the space and maintenance required to install and operate a sufficient off-grid system outweigh the benefits. A grid-intertie system would allow any number of solar panels to be used in the system while still providing the electricity demand using grid-power.

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Groundwater; Guatemala; PV array; Renewable energy; Wind turbine; Barometric pressure; Deep groundwaters; Electricity demands; Multi-stage; Off-grid system; Photovoltaic arrays; Potential power; Pump system; PV arrays; Renewable energies; Renewable energy applications; Site-specific; Solar insolation; Solar panels; Weather stations; Wind directions; Wind velocities; Atmospheric pressure

Geographic Coverage

Guatemala

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1866-6280

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2010 Springer Verlag, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Aug 2010

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