Techno-economic feasibility analysis of solar PV water pumping systems in Kayunga District, Uganda Case study: Kawolokota Primary School

Abstract

This study represents technical and economic analyses of solar Photovoltaic water pumping system in comparison with diesel water pumping in Uganda. Focusing on a case study in Kayunga district, Kawolokota Primary School, located at 0.886290 N latitude and 32.900287 E longitude. It’s solar resource from NASA in HOMER Pro software proposed an annual averaged radiation of 5.22 kWh/m2/day with 5 peak sun hours. HOMER and RetScreen simulation softwares are used to obtain the optimal solar Photovoltaic system design model and the related economic analysis for the analytical comparison respectively. The comparison results show that the levelized cost of energy is 0.385 USD/kWh and 2.49 USD/kWh for solar PV and diesel water pumping systems respectively with 3 years’ simple payback period in RetScreen for solar Photovoltaic water pumping system. It is therefore concluded that solar Photovoltaic water pumping systems provide a better and promising option in Uganda.