Studies of the performance of photovoltaic power plant in a Southern African environment

This work reports a research programme undertaken since 1991 whose aims were to design, install and monitor a photovoltaic water pumping plant, with a capacity of 848 Wp, in the region of Maputo, Mozambique. The pumping plant has been installed in 1993 and a monitoring system integrated into it in 1994. The monitoring activities have been carried out during a period of six months, from 1st January to 30th June 1995, and had as a major objective to characterise the performance of the plant under the local environmental conditions. This characterisation comprised a detailed analysis of the performance of the plant's major components, namely the PV array, the inverter and the motor/pump unit. The costs of the energy services provided by the plant were also determined. Since this work was the first research activity in photovoltaics carried out in Mozambique, one the major outputs expected with it was that it should facilitate the promotion of photovoltaics in the country. Therefore another objective of this research was that of developing a model for an efficient PV technology transfer in the context of developing countries in general, and to Mozambique in particular.