The provision of water in many desert regions relies primarily on standalone pumping systems powered by combustion engines. In pursuit of a more reliable and sustainable route to securing water supplies, researchers from Isla University in Jordan explored the feasibility of a solar and wind powered water pump system.

Simulations of such a system were conducted for a small village in eastern Jordan where the temperature range is 4° C to 36.7° C, average monthly solar radiation ranges from 3.79 kWh/m²/day to 8.54 kWh/m²/day, and average monthly wind speed varies from 6.29 m/s to 9.15 m/s. Scenarios considered included a diesel generator (DG) with a storage battery (SB), monocrystalline photovoltaics (PV) and SB, a combination of PV with DG and SB, a wind turbine (WT) with DG and SB, and the use of PV, WT, and SB.

The analysis sought to determine a configuration optimized to yield the lowest cost per kilowatt-hour of energy produced by deploying 315 W PV units, WTs of 10,000 W capacity, and SBs of 3,000 Ah capacity.

The optimal system described in Environmental and Sustainability Indicators consists of 33 PV panels with a total power of 10.18 kW, one 10 kW wind turbine, eight batteries, and three inverters. The energy cost of the system is 0.241/kWh, with a payback period of 6.67 years and a net-present value of $59.611. This arrangement also lends itself to the elimination of all greenhouse gas emissions associated with supplying water.