Solar photovoltaic (PV) pumping irrigation system has become a widely applied solar energy technology over the past decades, in which the pump is driven by electricity produced by solar energy and lifts groundwater or surface water to irrigate the crop or grassland for agriculture. Qinghai Province, located in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, features abundant solar energy, but the problem of local grassland degradation and ecological deterioration has become increasingly serious. Using the clean solar energy to pump groundwater or surface water is of great significance for grassland recovery, environment protection and ecological restoration. In this study, we selected a demonstration site (with an area of 3.15 ha) in Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Golog at the southern part of Qinghai Province and evaluated the feasibility and performance of the PV pumping irrigation system at field scale. Firstly, water demand of pasture was predicted in different hydrological level years to determine water deficiency, which should be replenished mainly by pumping groundwater according to the local water resources conditions. Secondly, through modeling the unsteady flow of partially penetrating well in unconfined aquifer, we analyzed the change of groundwater table of the pumping well in both irrigation season and non-irrigation season, and then evaluated whether the groundwater resources can satisfy the pumping water demand for the growth of grassland. Results show that groundwater resources in the demonstration area are satisfactory and water yield in the pumping well can generally fulfill the water demand of grassland. Finally, based on balance analysis between solar energy supply and demand, a set of technical parameters were given to design the PV pumping irrigation system in the demonstration area. We also made the benefit analysis for the PV pumping irrigation system. It is concluded that, the PV system has good economic and ecological performance in the demonstration site compared to the diesel engine irrigation system, showing promising prospects to be popularized in Western China at large scale. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.