IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v8y2015i1p18-d61238.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stand-Alone Solar Organic Rankine Cycle Water Pumping System and Its Economic Viability in Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Suresh Baral

    (School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea)

  • Kyung Chun Kim

    (School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea)

Abstract

The current study presents the concept of a stand-alone solar organic Rankine cycle (ORC) water pumping system for rural Nepalese areas. Experimental results for this technology are presented based on a prototype. The economic viability of the system was assessed based on solar radiation data of different Nepalese geographic locations. The mechanical power produced by the solar ORC is coupled with a water pumping system for various applications, such as drinking and irrigation. The thermal efficiency of the system was found to be 8% with an operating temperature of 120 °C. The hot water produced by the unit has a temperature of 40 °C. Economic assessment was done for 1-kW and 5-kW solar ORC water pumping systems. These systems use different types of solar collectors: a parabolic trough collector (PTC) and an evacuated tube collector (ETC). The economic analysis showed that the costs of water are $2.47/m 3 (highest) and $1.86/m 3 (lowest) for the 1-kW system and a 150-m pumping head. In addition, the cost of water is reduced when the size of the system is increased and the pumping head is reduced. The minimum volumes of water pumped are 2190 m 3 and 11,100 m 3 yearly for 1 kW and 5 kW, respectively. The payback period is eight years with a profitability index of 1.6. The system is highly feasible and promising in the context of Nepal.

Suggested Citation

  • Suresh Baral & Kyung Chun Kim, 2015. "Stand-Alone Solar Organic Rankine Cycle Water Pumping System and Its Economic Viability in Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-18, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2015:i:1:p:18-:d:61238
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/1/18/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/1/18/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kosmadakis, G. & Manolakos, D. & Kyritsis, S. & Papadakis, G., 2009. "Economic assessment of a two-stage solar organic Rankine cycle for reverse osmosis desalination," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1579-1586.
    2. Bhandari, Humnath & Pandey, Sushil, 2006. "Economics of Groundwater Irrigation in Nepal: Some Farm-Level Evidences," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 38(1), pages 1-15, April.
    3. Suresh Baral & Dokyun Kim & Eunkoo Yun & Kyung Chun Kim, 2015. "Energy, Exergy and Performance Analysis of Small-Scale Organic Rankine Cycle Systems for Electrical Power Generation Applicable in Rural Areas of Developing Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-30, January.
    4. Delgado-Torres, Agustín M., 2009. "Solar thermal heat engines for water pumping: An update," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 462-472, February.
    5. Nepal, Rabindra, 2012. "Roles and potentials of renewable energy in less-developed economies: The case of Nepal," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 2200-2206.
    6. Bhandari, Humnath & Pandey, Sushil, 2006. "Economics of Groundwater Irrigation in Nepal: Some Farm-Level Evidences," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 185-199, April.
    7. Wong, Y. W. & Sumathy, K., 1999. "Solar thermal water pumping systems: a review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 3(2-3), pages 185-217, June.
    8. Bhandari, Ramchandra & Stadler, Ingo, 2011. "Electrification using solar photovoltaic systems in Nepal," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 458-465, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Landelle, Arnaud & Tauveron, Nicolas & Haberschill, Philippe & Revellin, Rémi & Colasson, Stéphane, 2017. "Organic Rankine cycle design and performance comparison based on experimental database," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 1172-1187.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bataineh, Khaled M., 2016. "Optimization analysis of solar thermal water pump," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 603-613.
    2. Lakew, Amlaku Abie & Bolland, Olav & Ladam, Yves, 2011. "Theoretical thermodynamic analysis of Rankine power cycle with thermal driven pump," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(9), pages 3005-3011.
    3. Gurung, Anup & Karki, Rahul & Cho, Ju Sik & Park, Kyung Won & Oh, Sang-Eun, 2013. "Roles of renewable energy technologies in improving the rural energy situation in Nepal: Gaps and opportunities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1104-1109.
    4. Tchanche, Bertrand F. & Lambrinos, Gr. & Frangoudakis, A. & Papadakis, G., 2011. "Low-grade heat conversion into power using organic Rankine cycles – A review of various applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 3963-3979.
    5. Foster, Timothy & Adhikari, Roshan & Adhikari, Subash & Justice, Scott & Tiwari, Baburam & Urfels, Anton & Krupnik, Timothy J., 2021. "Improving pumpset selection to support intensification of groundwater irrigation in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    6. Mohammed Wazed, Saeed & Hughes, Ben Richard & O’Connor, Dominic & Kaiser Calautit, John, 2018. "A review of sustainable solar irrigation systems for Sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 1206-1225.
    7. Li, Chennan & Goswami, Yogi & Stefanakos, Elias, 2013. "Solar assisted sea water desalination: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 136-163.
    8. Jokar, H. & Tavakolpour-Saleh, A.R., 2015. "A novel solar-powered active low temperature differential Stirling pump," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 319-337.
    9. Aliyu, Mansur & Hassan, Ghassan & Said, Syed A. & Siddiqui, Muhammad U. & Alawami, Ali T. & Elamin, Ibrahim M., 2018. "A review of solar-powered water pumping systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 61-76.
    10. Gopal, C. & Mohanraj, M. & Chandramohan, P. & Chandrasekar, P., 2013. "Renewable energy source water pumping systems—A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 351-370.
    11. Ram P. Dhital & Yutaka Ito & Shinji Kaneko & Satoru Komatsu & Ryota Mihara & Yuichiro Yoshida, 2016. "Does Institutional Failure Undermine the Physical Design Performance of Solar Water Pumping Systems in Rural Nepal?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-11, August.
    12. MacCarty, Nordica A. & Bryden, Kenneth Mark, 2016. "An integrated systems model for energy services in rural developing communities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 536-557.
    13. Neupane, Deependra & Kafle, Sagar & Karki, Kaji Ram & Kim, Dae Hyun & Pradhan, Prajal, 2022. "Solar and wind energy potential assessment at provincial level in Nepal: Geospatial and economic analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 278-291.
    14. Vélez, Fredy & Segovia, José J. & Martín, M. Carmen & Antolín, Gregorio & Chejne, Farid & Quijano, Ana, 2012. "A technical, economical and market review of organic Rankine cycles for the conversion of low-grade heat for power generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 4175-4189.
    15. Bustos, Cristian & Watts, David, 2017. "Novel methodology for microgrids in isolated communities: Electricity cost-coverage trade-off with 3-stage technology mix, dispatch & configuration optimizations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 204-221.
    16. Golonis, Chrysanthos & Skiadopoulos, Anastasios & Manolakos, Dimitris & Kosmadakis, George, 2021. "Assessment of the performance of a low-temperature Organic Rankine Cycle engine coupled with a concentrating PV-Thermal system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1085-1097.
    17. Yang, Sheng & Zhang, Lu & Xie, Nan & Gu, Zhaohui & Liu, Zhiqiang, 2021. "Thermodynamic analysis of a semi-lean solution process for energy saving via rectisol wash technology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    18. MacCarty, Nordica A. & Bryden, Kenneth Mark, 2017. "Costs and impacts of potential energy strategies for rural households in developing communities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 1157-1174.
    19. al Irsyad, M. Indra & Halog, Anthony & Nepal, Rabindra, 2018. "Estimating the impacts of financing support policies towards photovoltaic market in Indonesia: A social-energy-economy-environment (SE3) model simulation," Working Papers 2018-09, University of Tasmania, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics.
    20. Kosmadakis, G. & Manolakos, D. & Papadakis, G., 2010. "Parametric theoretical study of a two-stage solar organic Rankine cycle for RO desalination," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 989-996.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2015:i:1:p:18-:d:61238. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.