CATFISH FARM PROJECT - 15KW SOLAR PUMPING

15 KW FISH FARM SOLAR PUMPING PROJECT

This is a short text area to describe the project. Just write a few words about the purpose, inspiration or success of the project and let the images tell the rest of the story. 

Challenge

A 5 acre fish farm with capacity to rear 50,000 Catfish a year required a power solution that would reduce operating costs and increase efficiency. The farm used a 7.5kW three phase submersible pump to provide water for the 6 ponds and grow out tanks. To generate power a 11kVA three phase generator was installed which cost around 1 million naira to operate per annum (including maintenance costs). The generator is loud, unreliable and the fish operation had to control water usage very carefully to manage cost.

Solution

ASC Engineers reviewed the site and redesign the water system to be powered by the sun. The first goal was to assess the water infrastructure to determine the actual pumping power required, which was 4kW. The next goal was to design the lowest cost three phase power system that could provide reliable water all year round. A three phase system is at a higher voltage so designing a solar-battery system would cost too much. The most cost effective strategy was to use a 11kW three phase solar pump inverter which varies pump speed based on how much solar energy is available; connected to a 15kW PV array. In this way extra battery infrastructure was not needed and the fish operation could pump water fun sunrise to sun set; if the generator was used for the equivalent period the operational cost would be over 2 million niara.
Share by: