Economic Comparison Between Solar Power and National Grid to Supply Energy for Drip Irrigation System: The Case Study of Pakdasht County

Subject Areas : Article frome a thesis

Shiva Mottaghi ¹ , Ali Rahimi Khob ²

1 - Ph.D. Graduate. Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan,Iran.
2 - Professor, Department of Irrigation and Drainage, College of Aboureihan, University of Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2020-09-20 Accepted : 2023-05-13 Published : 2023-04-21

Keywords: Investment, Solar Energy, Pressurized irrigation, Electricity grid, Pistachio gardens,

Abstract :

Abstract Introduction: In recent years, the supply of energy for irrigation systems of pistachio gardens in Pakdasht is an important issue. With the implementation of targeted subsidies plan, the price of energy has increased significantly. In these conditions, the use of solar energy is the best solution, especially for areas away from the national electricity grid. Methods: In this study, drip irrigation system was designed for 4 pistachio gardens in Pakdasht with areas of 12, 24, 48 and 96 ha and slopes of 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4%. Irrigation was done in two modes: 24-hour irrigation, 12-hour irrigation, then the annual investment costs of the solar system and the national electricity were calculated. Findings: Comparison cost of solar equipment in 12 and 24 hour irrigation showed that in the slope of 4%, the cost of solar equipment in 24-hour irrigation for 12, 24, 48 and 96 ha were 0.6, 0, 68.45 and 97.36 million Rials more than cost of solar equipment in 12-hour irrigation and the investment cost of mechanical equipment and purchasing pipes in 12-hour irrigation were 9.68, 70.46, 240.93 and 451.25 million Rials more than cost of them in 24-hour irrigation, respectively. In general, total cost of the solar system in 24-hour irrigation is less than 12-hour irrigation. Selected solar system (24-hour irrigation) was compared with a pumping system connected to the national electricity grid. The comparison showed that economic feasibility of solar system is depend on the pumping station power and distance of gardens from the national grid.

References:

1.               H. M. Darouich, C. M. G. Pedras, J. M. Gonçalves, and L. S. Pereira. 2014. Drip vs. surface irrigation: A comparison focussing on water saving and economic returns using multicriteria analysis applied to cotton. Biosystems Engineering. 122: 74–90.

2.       D. S. Kachwaya, J. S. Chandel, G. Vikas, and B. Khachi. 2016. Effect of drip and furrow irrigation on yield and physiological performance of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) cv. Chandler. Indian Journal of Plant Physiology. 21(3): 341–344.

3.               A. A. and A. Kumar. 2001. Micro irrigation system–past, present and future. International Conference on Micro and Sprinkler Irrigation System. pp. 8–10.

4.       A. Of, A. Science, R. Singandhupe, and C. Resea. 2008. Management of drip irrigated sugarcane in western India, no. DECEMBER.

5.               S. Roblin. 2016. Solar-powered irrigation: A solution to water management in agriculture?. Renewable Energy Focus. 17(5): 205–206.

6.               J. W. Powell, J. M. Welsh, and R. Farquharson. 2019. Investment analysis of solar energy in a hybrid diesel irrigation pumping system in New South Wales, Australia. Journal of Cleaner Production. 224: 444–454.

7.       B. Ali. 2017. Comparative assessment of the feasibility for solar irrigation pumps in Sudan. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 81(May 2017): 413–420.

8.               A. Bhattacharjee, D. K. Mandal, and H. Saha. 2016. Design of an optimized battery energy storage enabled Solar PV Pump for rural irrigation. 1st IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Intelligent Control and Energy Systems, pp. 1–6.

9.       A. Parvaresh Rizi and A. Ashrafzadeh. 2018. Techno-economic Analysis of Solar Irrigation: Comparison with Conventional Energy Sources for Irrigation. Journal of Energy Planning And Policy Research. 4(2): 201–228. [In Persian].

10.   M. Chahartaghi and M. Hedayatpour. 2020. Experimental Study of Small Scale Drip Irrigation Using Positive Displacement Solar Pump in Direct Coupling Conditions. Iranian Journal of Mechanical Engineering Transactions of ISME. 21(4): 220–238. [In Persian].

11.           S. Gorjian, B. N. Zadeh, L. Eltrop, R. R. Shamshiri, and Y. Amanlou. 2019. Solar photovoltaic power generation in Iran: Development, policies, and barriers. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 106( February): 110–123.

12.   M. Aliyu, G. Hassan, S. A. Said, M. U. Siddiqui, A. T. Alawami, and I. M. Elamin. 2018. A review of solar-powered water pumping systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 87 (February): 61–76.

13.           D. H. Muhsen, T. Khatib, and F. Nagi. 2017. A review of photovoltaic water pumping system designing methods, control strategies and field performance. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 68(January): 70–86.

14.   V. C. Sontake and V. R. Kalamkar. 2016. Solar photovoltaic water pumping system - A comprehensive review, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 59: 1038–1067.

15.   S. S. Chandel, M. Nagaraju Naik, and R. Chandel. 2015. Review of solar photovoltaic water pumping system technology for irrigation and community drinking water supplies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 49: 1084–1099.

16.   M. A. Hammad and H. Qandil. 2013. Unified approach for designing a photo voltaic solar system for under ground water pumping well - 34 at Dici aquifer. Journal of energy conversion and management. 75 (2013): 780-795.

17.           A. Asrari, A. Ghasemi, and M. H. Javidi. 2012. Economic evaluation of hybrid renewable energy systems for rural electrification in Iran - A case study. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 16(5): 3123–3130.

18.   A. Closas and E. Rap. 2017. Solar-based groundwater pumping for irrigation: Sustainability, policies, and limitations,” Energy Policy. 104(May): 33–37.

19.           L. Narvarte, J. Fernández-Ramos, F. Martínez-Moreno, L. M. Carrasco, R. H. Almeida, and I. B. Carrêlo. 2018. Solutions for adapting photovoltaics to large power irrigation systems for agriculture. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments. 29(April): 119–130.

20.   M. H. MahdaviAdeli, M. Salimifar, and A. Ghezelbash. 2014. Economic Evaluation of the Use of Solar Power and Fossil Energy in a Three-Unit Complex: A Case Study in Mashhad. The Journal of Economic Policy. 6(11): 123–147. [In Persian].

21.   S. Monshipour and .R. Abdollahi. 2008. An economic review of the photovoltaic systems to supply the electricity of the villages without power. The 22nd International Electricity Conference, Tehran 2008. [In Persian].

22.           P. C. Pande, A. K. Singh, S. Ansari, S. K. Vyas, and B. K. Dave. 2003. Design development and testing of a solar PV pump based drip system for orchards. Renewable Energy. 28(3): 385–396.

23.   Rubio-Aliaga, Álvaro, M. Socorro Garcia-Cascales, Juan Miguel Sánchez-Lozano, and Angel Molina-Garcia. 2019. Multidimensional analysis of groundwater pumping for irrigation purposes: Economic, energy and environmental characterization for PV power plant integration. Renewable Energy. 138 (2019): 174-186.

24.   M. A. Hossain, M. S. Hassan, M. A. Mottalib, and M. Hossain. 2015. Feasibility of solar pump for sustainable irrigation in Bangladesh. International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering. 6(2): 147–155.

25.           S. Ali and R. Nawaz. 2022. Solar Powered Smart Irrigation System. Pakistan Journal of Engineering and Technology. 5(1): 49–55.

26.   A. Alizade. Pressurized Irrigation System Design .5th ed. Mashhad, Iran: University of Imam Reza Press, 2011. [In Persian].

27.   J. and R. D. B. Keller, Sprinkle and trickle irrigation. New York, 1990.

28.           A. Alizade. Design of irrigation systems, 5th ed. Mashhad, Iran: University of Imam Reza Press, 2004. [In Persian].

29.   M. Kolhe, S. Kolhe, and J. C. Joshi. 2002. Economic viability of stand-alone solar photovoltaic system in comparison with diesel-powered system for India. Energy Economics. 24(2): 155–165.