using solar power for a water slide

[KSbr]

Hello,

I am writing from Brazil. I have absolutely no experience with solar energy. I participate in a youth group and we are thinking of writing a project for a community waterslide, nothing fancy, just a 3 meter high chute into the water. Our idea is to use solar power (it would only operate when the sun in up) to power water pumps for our slide.

How is the simplest way we can do it? Would we be able to avoid batteries?

(We will be doing this with a Solar energy company, I just don't trust them to tell us the simplest way....they do want to make money after all)

[Wy_White_Wolf]

First off - without batteries you will not be able to operate "when the sun is up." Instead it would be when the system is producing enough power to operate the pumps, which would be only about 3 to 6 hours a day.

Best way I can think to do this would be to build an elevated storage tank to pump solar direct into. Then you can regulate the flow out of the tank to flow down the slide. Just have to build the array/pumping system to supply enough for however many hours you wish in a day. You may also want to build the tank big enough to operate for 2 days without pumping any water.

WWW

[KSbr]

That sounds like a good option. My main reason for not using batteries is because our region of Brazil has the third most polluted river in Brazil and the battery "recycling" plant pours all kinds of fun toxins into the water.

Is there a good way of using batteries so they last a long long long time?