Batteries & blended power in solar pumping

Solar Questions and Comments
1

Hi! I am completing a research project on solar water pumps in the agricultural sector and compatible technologies. I’m looking for more information on compatible battery technologies for solar pumping applications. I’m also interested in hybrid/blended power, and would like to know what other capabilities/functions are in demand for inverters with blending capabilities? If you could provide some insight or point me to some helpful resources that would be great. Cheers, Harry

2

Hi @harry.solar

Thanks for posting. @commodoresolar might be able to help you with your query about pumps. They are a solar water pump provider in Victoria.

3

You might need to be a bit more specific here. Is your question about whether the current products on the market fulfil the demand? Or about what inverter products best handle hybrid/blended power - and by that do you mean multiple renewable sources?

Thanks
Marty

4

Thanks Marty! My question is both about whether demand is being met and also which products on the market are currently best handling this (blended inverters & batteries). Rather than focusing on multiple renewable resources, I’m interested in solutions that engage solar, battery (powered by solar) and generator energy. What is the ideal combination? What are the capabilities of current blending technology? Is there a demand for specific functionalities of blended power that are not being met? I hope that clarifies it and let me know if you have any ideas! :slight_smile:

5

Hi Harry,

I’m from Commodore Solar. We currently have multiple ways that we can do this but most commonly we use a pump drive inverter that we’ve developed in house for automatic blending between Solar and mains/generator power. The pumps that we use these on are generally on the larger side so batteries isn’t that practical in the applications in that we usually sell them for. That’s not to say adding batteries isn’t possible we just do it a bit differently in that case.

We sell these both at retail and wholesale level. If you would like more information just sing out.

Regards,
James

6

Thanks James! This helps a lot.

7

Hi Harry

The Selectronic SP Pro is probably the best product on the market for combining multiple power sources, including generator and battery. Have you looked into that one? There are a number of options that fulfil this demand though.

As for how much demand there is, it is relatively small compared to simple grid connect solar, that is due to batteries still not being as good a financial investment as simply installing solar.

I’m curious as to what you are working on Harry, have you got any more details?

Cheers
Marty

8

Thanks Marty. I’ve reached out to Selectronic! As you’ve said, batteries are an extra expense and therefore many people don’t have them installed. I’m particularly interested in off-grid pumping applications though, where this tech is more necessary.

For this project I am trying to find the best battery solutions to be used to compensate solar for pumping applications, both when solar is not available and also to ‘top-up’ solar when there isn’t enough. I know most of the growth in this space isn’t pump related, but I was hoping to gain some insight on learnt experience in this area. However, understanding the specific demands of batteries and blended technology in the domestic space may provide insight into what can be done for pumping solutions?