Difference between revisions of "Solar Powered Water Systems in Humanitarian Context III - Q&A"
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This page documents the questions that were asked during the webinar: [[Capacity Building and Learning on Solar Powered Water Systems#Webinar I|Solar Powered Water Systems in Humanitarian Context]]<br/> | This page documents the questions that were asked during the webinar: [[Capacity Building and Learning on Solar Powered Water Systems#Webinar I|Solar Powered Water Systems in Humanitarian Context]]<br/> | ||
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Depends on a number of factors, the country where you are based, the quality of products used, the size of the system. | Depends on a number of factors, the country where you are based, the quality of products used, the size of the system. | ||
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=== Which kind of solar inverter brand do you prefer? === | === Which kind of solar inverter brand do you prefer? === | ||
Revision as of 16:08, 5 March 2021
This page documents the questions that were asked during the webinar: Solar Powered Water Systems in Humanitarian Context
Note: This page is still being developed!
Overview Questions
How best can you clean the panels when the pole mounts are high? What is the recommended height for the pole mounts for the solar panels?
The height depends on what you are trying to achieve, is it a flood-prone area? is it to discourage theft?....cleaning of panels mounted on poles can be achieved by, for example, equipping the water operator with a ladder and a telescopic handle with a cloth....in other places we have seen a holed pipe going along the top of the panels and having water flowed every now and then might be an option.
How long can the solar system battery serve or no need to have batter for tropical regions like Ethiopia?
Better to design your system so that batteries are no needed
Did you ever take a regeneration of power by using the downstream pressure just with the same pump? so that the pump would work as a generator turbine?
No, never.
How much its cost solar water project per watt?
Depends on a number of factors, the country where you are based, the quality of products used, the size of the system.
Which kind of solar inverter brand do you prefer?
More than brands we like to see at manufacturing certifications. The control equipment must meet EN 61800-1, EN 61800-3, EN 60204-1 or internationally recognised equivalent standards.
Would an inline chlorinator be an appropriate way of dosing the chemical in a solar set up
Yes, if the injection is proportional to the water flow
How to anticipate best the local conditions of irradiance (especially in emergencies)?
There are databases (NASA, EU, others) with historical data for long years that are used for that.
Which pumps are better suited for solar pumping? AC or Brushless DC pumps in terms of performance & costs?
If both options are possible, DC normally will have a longer lifespan, higher efficiencies and won't need DC/AC invertors, so will reducing the likelihood of problems since electronics is normally weaker than mechanics.
How can one design solar water pumping systems in a location without digging a well? Is there a way to determine if there is an aquifer underneath in a location without digging?
you will need to look for some hydrogeological data of the area, and have a look at nearby existing water points...normally that information exists already for many countries and areas
In this series, are we going to get any training on how to design solar water pumping systems to address the challenge of lack of technical knowledge?
There are already some options for training...you can have a look at those at www.thesolarhub.org
Do the storage guidelines also apply to solar pumping for agricultural irrigation?
That will depend on the specific needs of the project and the capacity of the water, you will need to make the numbers for your specific project
When the pipe line breaks from the well to the tank. Either by vandalism or water hammer, or age/light damage, etc. if the pump doesn't switch off it will cause cavitation of the aquifer and likely burn out the pump.
If the pipeline is broken, the water will flow out through the break...I'm not sure I understand what you mean
How do you keep chlorine dosing proportional to varying water flow from solar pumps with a by-pass connection (chlorine tablets, water driven dosing pumps)?
Normally through experience, your operators will end up knowing how much your valves have to be open or close to achieving the desired values, for different times of the day and weather conditions...of course, regular water chlorine monitoring is advised
Questions to Jared
What is the software that he is using for water storage tank sizing?
Normally you can just use Excel to plot the data and have those graphs.
Questions to Brian
How does the GLOWSI solar manual arrive at a tank size of 1 to 3 times daily demand?
As said in the manual, that is a quick approximation when for some reason, you can not do a proper analysis of water pumped vs demand to size the tank...the data of 1 day comes from field assessments showing that the great majority of systems retrofitted from diesel to solar with tanks of less than 1 day of water demand volume faced overflow problems. The limit of 3 days is given with the risk of having too low chlorine concentrations for water stored for longer than that period of time.
How about opinions in regard to charging some money for received water?
Please see the webinar recording.
How was the number of taps/person determined in such a large camp? I imagine the population density and terrain makes things very difficult with queuing.
Please see the webinar recording.
He referenced 20 litres per person per day.... could you comment on whether sphere standards or other country standards are in mind?
20lpd is the UNHCR standard for refugee locations, which is normally the reference taken for those contexts...this can be increased depending on the context.
