This is a fantastic application for micro scale solar systems.<p>The interesting part is for such very low powered apps, the pumped water itself is a battery, in the sense that the functional requirement can be fulfilled inspite of intermittent power is to pump water to the surface and use it when required.
It's good to see more companies investing in DC well and water pumps. DC pumps are an absolute <i>must</i> for off grid irrigation.<p>Nearly all current well pumps are impossible to use off grid with solar panels without a HUGE battery and inverter because they're high voltage (or worse 3 phase) and use an ENORMOUS amount of amps when the pump first starts up.<p>To give you an idea, a wimpy 1 HP 220v well pump can draw 35 amps for the first 5 or 10 seconds when it starts up. That would require TWO Tesla power walls to support.
I wonder if they are tracking the underground aquifers? If he's extending his growing season and increasing his crop size without regard for the new found water source it just feels like there will be an even greater crisis down the road when the source eventually runs out.
We can just hope the places where these systems are used are still inhabitable in ten years. As temperatures rise, the ability to sweat off enough heat declines, even when there is enough extra water to drink.<p>It is worst where humidity is also high, which anyway the desert areas of east central Africa do not suffer from, but Africa has plenty of high-heat/high-humidity habitat. If it becomes too hard for humans, I wonder what other animals will be able to do. What happens when chimpanzees can no longer live in the few remaining places they can now?
This is awesome. I actually just set up a rain collection/solar irrigation system for my house and we are anything but off-grid. It all runs off of a 12v battery and a small solar panel. I think a similar program could be great for encouraging urban agriculture as well, while reducing water waste and energy consumption.