Gordon Kernick- Renewable Energy for Water Pumping

Karoo water pump by David Bucklow

“Merry-Go-Round” Water Pump

Solar Water Pump

The Elundini municipality, in the rural North Eastern region of the Eastern Cape comprising the towns of, amongst others, Maclear and Mt. Fletcher and situated on the South Western border of Lesotho, is currently struggling to provide fresh drinking water to some 50000 of its rural inhabitants. The Energy Research Centre was approached by representatives of the Elundini municipality in the hope of finding a solution to their problem, possibly via the use of renewable energy powered, water pumping technologies.

Currently most of the water supplied to the rural inhabitants of Elundini is done via diesel generators and although effective and versatile, do have several short falls including intermittent supply of diesel with fluctuating costs, and the need for regular maintenance (Oi, A. 2005).

This dissertation will seek to determine the efficacy of renewable energy powered technologies, namely solar PV and wind pumps, in providing water to the rural inhabitants of the municipality. This will be achieved firstly by studying the already existing data related to solar PV and wind pumping technology, in what climatic conditions they are most effective and how they would compare to currently used water pumping technologies (most commonly diesel generators).

Gordon Kernick is supervised by Andrew Hibberd from the Measurement and Verification team in the ERC and Holle Wlokas.