The Challenge

Keeping a fishing lake topped up by using water pumped from a borehole pump powered by solar energy.

Background

A local angling club recently completed a second lake for their members. The first lake is spring fed with the second topped up from the overflow of the first.

With grant funding and local support available the club committee approached SCL Water to establish if a borehole could be drilled to provide a further supply of water.

SCL Water are the Grundfos UK major supplier and installer of solar powered water pumping systems and, in conjunction with Cox Plant, a local specialist borehole drilling company, a source of water was located.

The Solution

With the borehole drilled to a depth of 45 meters the water level rose to rest at only 4 meters below the surface.
The solar pump was installed to a depth of 37 meters and a flow test was undertaken to establish the draw down of the water in the borehole. The solar powered pumps SCL install are unique and are able to run on mains A/C electricity in addition to the D/C power generated by the solar panels. For the flow test therefor the pump was connected to a 240 volt generator.

The flow test established that the borehole was very productive so the solar panels were erected and linked to the pump using a switch over box with no inverter required.

Even on a cold day in March with intermittent cloud cover the system produces a substantial amount of water.