Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

GROUNDWATER HARVESTING TECHNOLOGIES AND ITS IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENTAL ENERGY CONSERVATION

M. Sundaram, M. Anand and B. Vinod

Abstract

Groundwater harvesting is a key technology dependent factor which plays a vital role in the development of a National Economy. The harvesting method is usually associated with the losses encountered in the pumping process which affects the system’s efficiency. The groundwater harvesting in the agriculture and irrigation based water pumping applications is carried out through the submersible motor pump-sets which forms the prime equipment for the basic aspects of energy conservation. The induction motor which has been several decades old is the main source of driving the submersible pump-sets due to its easy line start mechanisms, maintenance and trouble free running conditions ideally suited for grid tie applications where the quality of the power is good. But, now a days, due to rapid developments in the agricultural sector and urbanisation there exists a demand for the energy conservation, also the rapid penetration of the renewable energy sources demand the usage of energy efficient submersible motor pump-sets, especially suitable for off-grid or applications in remote areas with advanced submersible motor technologies. This paper reviews the potential and feasibility of replacing existing submersible induction motor with the synchronous reluctance motors (SynRM) for the energy efficient groundwater harvesting and its associated concerns.