The effectiveness of photovoltaic water pumping systems depends on the adequacy between the generated energy and the volume of pumped water. This paper presents an intelligent algorithm which makes decision on the interconnection modes and instants of photovoltaic installation components: battery, water pump and photovoltaic panel. The decision is made by fuzzy rules on the basis of the Photovoltaic Panel Generation (PVPG) forecast during a considered day, on the load required power, and by considering the battery safety. The algorithm aims to extend operation time of the water pump by controlling a switching unit which links the system components with respect to multi objective management criteria. The algorithm implementation demonstrates that the approach extends the pumping period for more than 5 h a day which gives a mean daily improvement of 97% of the water pumped volume. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.