Welsh Water takes a shine to solar pump
3 Sep 2010
Manchester, UK – NOV Mono has installed a solar powered recirculating pump at Welsh Water’s Llanrhidian WwTW, a remotely located wastewater plant on the Gower Peninsular which has no power supply.
The facility, which consists of a biological filter bed and two final tanks, was found to be drying out during long spells of dry weather, killing off the biological process that is fundamental to treatment at the site.
To resolve this issue, the site planned to fit a re-circulation system from the final tank up to the filter bed that would pump around 2 l/sec of final effluent onto the filter bed and prevent the biological system drying out. However, with no power supply at the site, this presented a challenge.
NOV Mono, a framework supplier for Welsh Water, recommended installing one of its solar panels and recirculating pumps. The Mono pump uses renewable energy from the PV solar panel to pump the effluent back to the filter bed and keep the biological process from drying out.
The installation consisted of a Mono SunSub submersible pump, solar array, controller cable and safety wire together with a GRP Kiosk to house all control components, back up batteries, pump starter for the solar unit and day/night/summer/winter timer controls. All mechanical and electrical installation was carried out by Mono’s projects and installations team.
Solar powered water pumps have been developed by Mono for use with boreholes, wells lakes or rivers where electric or diesel power is unavailable. Installation is quick and simple, and the robust and effective design ensures maintenance is minimal, enabling the units to be serviced or repaired with basic maintenance skills and little spare parts back up.
