Windpumps: A guide for development workers

Using windpumps can be a reliable, cost-effective and environmentally benign means of providing a supply of clean water in rural areas. Although winpumps have been in commercial production for over 100 years, there is still enormous potential for their use in communities and on farms throughout the developing world. The scarcity of appropriate information on the technology, economics and practicalities of using windpumps has helped to restrict the development of windpumping. This guide aims to assist development workers and project managers in assessing their needs and choosing and implementing an appropriate windpumping system.Windpumps: A guide for development workers looks systematically at every aspect of the implementation of a wind-powered water-pumping system. Different situations and applications are discussed, along with details of how to assess existing local resources and evaluate the relative economics. Simple methods are described to help in sizing and specifying appropriate types of windpump, and advice given on machine procurement, installation, operation and maintenance. An illustrated buyersÆ guide gives full details of over 40 of the worldÆs major manufacturers and the range of winpumping equipment and services they offer, and lists addresses of manufacturers in 36 different countries around the world. Other appendices give useful information for life-cycle costing and summary data for assessing other methods of pumping. The authors of this book are applications specialists with IT Power and the Stockholm Environment Institute.

Peter Fraenkel is a founder and Technical Director of Marine Current Turbines Ltd, a company that is pioneering the development of tidal stream power systems. He is a chartered mechanical engineer with experience in aviation in the U.K. and copper mining and processing in Africa. He has worked on renewable energy technologies since the mid-1970s, starting with ITDG and later with IT Power, a renewable energy consultancy, particularly in the field of small-scale wind technology, small hydro and solar photovoltaic systems.