A solar-powered pump is a pump running on electricity generated by photovoltaic panels as opposed to grid electricity or diesel run water pumps.A photovoltaic solar powered pump system has three parts : The pump The controller Solar panels The purpose of the controller is twofold. Firstly, it matches the output power that the pump receives with the input power available from the solar panels. Secondly, a controller usually provides a low voltage protection, whereby the system is switched off, if the voltage is too low or too high for the operating voltage range of the pump.