Electric Wind Pumping for Meeting Off-Grid Community Water Demands

The current state of community scale electrical wind pumping technology is examined. Wind pumping is considered an economically competitive, sustainable means of providing water to communities without access to the electricity grid. A background is provided on the history of wind pumping systems, followed by a review of current technology and a discussion of its potential through several case studies. An analysis conducted using the performance curve of a Bergey Excel-PD wind pumping system shows that there is significant potential for the use of this technology in locations with average wind speeds of 5 m/s and greater. It is postulated that a lack of information to guarantee the success of new installations coupled with a lack of wind resource data in most locations is preventing electrical wind pumping from reaching its full potential.