Technical Assessment for Solar Powered Pumps in IRAQ

IRAQ has been described as having high solar powered irrigation resources. The seasonal changes in climate have a direct effect on the determination of crop water requirements, irrigation schedules and potential of solar energy generation to operate the water pumping. In this study, solar pumping and pressurized drip irrigation systems were theoretically evaluated to estimate the required water requirement (one hectare) for potato planting in the ALKhlis district using calculated climatic data from the Al-Khalis Agrometeorological weather station for a period (2013-2017).CROPWAT 8.0 Software was adopted in simulation of crop water requirement. A mathematical modeling of irrigation scheduling processes was carried by using Microsoft Excel worksheets. The pumping system was simulated by using web based Grundfos Product Center tool. The highest average value of 7.6 kWh / m2 / month of solar radiation in all monitoring data years in July, while the minimum average value of 2.6 kWh / m2 / month in December when the sun is at the lowest point in the atmosphere. The average of peak sun hours corresponding to the time of the pumping system and the highest water intake was observed at eight months, from March to October, is 7.2 hours / day and 5.2 hours/day for January, February, November and December