INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH M. Miladi et al., Vol.8, No.1, March, 2018 An Efficient and Low-Cost Single-Stage PV Pumping System: Experimental Investigation Based on Standard Frequency Converter Mansour MILADI*, Afef BENNANI-BENABDELGHANI**‡, Ilhem SLAMA-BELKHODJA***, Hichem M'SAAD**** * Electrical Systems Laboratory, University of Tunis El Manar, ENIT, Tunisia PHD Student, Tunis, 1002, Tunisia ** National Institute of Applied Sciences and Technologies, University of Carthage, Assistant, Tunis 1080, Tunisia. *** Electrical Systems Laboratory, University of Tunis El Manar, ENIT, Tunisia Professor, Tunis, 1002, Tunisia **** VOLTA PV, Tunis 1053, Tunisia (miladi.mansour@gmail.com, afef.bennani@gmail.com, ilhem.slamabelkhodja@enit.utm.tn, hichem@voltapv.com) ‡ Corresponding Author; Mansour MILADI, University of Tunis El Manar, LSE, ENIT, BP 37 1002, Tunis le Belvedère, Tel: +216 99 890 492, miladi.mansour@gmail.com Received: 26.05.2017 Accepted:24.07.2017 Abstract- Economic development depends deeply on energy source availability. Solar water pumping systems are more and more important in non-electrified areas, where grid accessibility is impossible or very expensive. This paper focuses on a Solar Water Pumping System (SWPS) fed exclusively by Photovoltaic energy and using a hydraulic storage system. A finite model of the considered SWPS is given and the limitations of the scalar control for such systems are detailed. The paper proposes to add a simple and accurate control stage to the low-cost scalar control based Standard Frequency Converter (SFC) in order to improve the SWPS performances. The synthesized control is simulated and its performances are compared to conventional SFC ones: the system response time is reduced, the system shutdowns caused by a partial shadowing are minimized and the global energy intake is increased. Experimental results are shown using a laboratory test bed composed of a 2.5-kWp, 2.5-HP centrifugal pump and a 0.5-m 3 tank; and prove the effectiveness of the proposed control. Keywords- Solar Pumping, Photovoltaic, Induction Motor, SFC, Single stage. 1. Introduction Water and sunlight are two of the most crucial natural resources in human life. However, some environmental conditions such as the weather and the topography (deserts and mountains) have caused water supply deficiencies in many parts of the world. Hence, according to [1], [2], in 2010, one person in two had no access to potable water or to conventional sources of energy [3], [4]. In those regions, water pumping appears to be the only feasible method of ensuring water provision. The energy sources used for rural water pumping are diesel, electricity, and human or animal power. However, hand pumps are only helpful for low consumption rates and the limited availability and high cost of fuel and electricity in these areas makes their use impracticable [5], [6]. For this reason, interest in the use of renewable energy sources has risen [7], [8]. Different electrical and hydraulic topologies are used for PV pumping systems. For the electric part, two types of motors are intensively considered: DC and asynchronous AC [9]. Various studies were initially carried out using DC motors [10], [11] since they offered a simple means of implementation with cheap power conversion [12]–[16]. Numerous operational pumping systems have shown that schemes endure from maintenance problems. To surmount this obstacle, brushless permanent magnet DC motors have been introduced [17]–[19]. Nevertheless, the power range of this application is restricted to low-power PV systems. So, more interest is directed to asynchronous machines. Induction motors based on PV pumping systems offer more