Long-term performance of a 1.2 kW peak PV water pumping system

Abstract The performance of a 1.2 kW peak PV water pumping system which has been operating over a period of 3 years is reported. The analysis shows that the system performance does not deteriorate over this period. The maximum overall efficiency of the system is 3.2% and the mean efficiency over this period is 1.9%. Increase in the temperature of the PV modules due to solar heating lowers the PV conversion efficiency at the rate of 0.06% per °C.