Features Water Issues World Projects
Franklin Electric uses solar pumping technology in Africa

April 23, 2014, Fort Wayne, IN  – Franklin Electric’s Franklin Wells for the
World Foundation in 2013 installed five wells in Zimbabwe’s remote
Tsholotsho District, giving more than 12,000 people – many for the first time
in their lives – easy access to clean water.

April 23, 2014, Fort Wayne, IN  – Franklin Electric’s Franklin Wells for the
World Foundation (FWWF) in 2013 installed five wells in Zimbabwe’s remote
Tsholotsho District, giving more than 12,000 people – many for the first time
in their lives – easy access to clean water.

The wells are powered by Franklin’s SubDrive SolarPAK
pumping system.

“Five thousand children a day die in Africa of waterborne
diseases. But that problem could be solved if they could get to the aquifers
200 feet under their feet. We established Franklin Wells for the World
Foundation in 2009 to address that problem,” said Franklin CEO Scott Trumbull
in a news release.

Since then, FWWF has installed wells in Kenya, Sudan,
Botswana and Zimbabwe using Franklin’s proven submersible pump systems powered
by diesel generators. With the introduction of the SubDrive SolarPAK in 2012,
Franklin saw an opportunity to make new FWWF installations even more efficient
and reliable.

“With the SubDrive SolarPAK system there are no moving parts
other than the highly reliable pump that is 200 feet underground,” explains Trumbull,
“So it will be a much longer lasting solution for those communities.”

In fact, SubDrive SolarPAK technology gives water pump
installers and users the option to use solar as the power source on virtually
any four-inch well. The rugged, high-output system is capable of a wide range
of applications, including irrigation systems, tank and cistern filling,
renewable energy projects and rural water supply for villages, cottages and
homesteads. Thanks to the SolarPAK’s variable frequency drive (VFD), the pump produces
water even on cloudy days or with minimal sunlight.

Besides the Kampani School and clinic, FWWF also installed
new wells at the nearby Jabulani, Jakalasi, Mpindo and Zigo schools. Because
the SubDrive SolarPAK system is designed to deliver higher flow rates than most
existing solar powered products, each one of the new Zimbabwe installations is
able to fill large, above-ground water tanks at the rate of 5,000 to 10,000 litres
a day.

“Each one of those will provide enough water for drinking,
bathing and garden irrigation,” said FWWF project leader Attie Jonker in the
release. “For many of the people in the region – especially the children – that’s
literally the difference between life and death.”

For more information about Franklin Wells for the World
Foundation and the SubDrive SolarPAK system, visit www.fwwf.org and
www.franklin-electric.com/solar .