Abstract
The current state of the art of photovoltaic (PV) irrigation systems is limited to PV peak powers below 40 kWp, which does not cover the irrigation needs of farmers, co-operatives, irrigator communities, and agro-industries. This limitation of power is due to two main technical barriers: The quick intermittence of PV power due to the passing of clouds, and the maladjustment between PV production and water needs. This paper presents new solutions that have been developed to overcome these barriers and their application to the design and performance of a 140 kWp hybrid PV-diesel system for the drip irrigation of 195 ha of olive trees in Alter do Chão, Portugal. The performance of the solutions was analysed during two years of real operation. As the performance of the PV system is not only affected by intrinsic-to-design characteristics, but also by circumstances external to the system, new performance indices were developed. As an example, the percentage of use of PV electricity, PVSH, was 78% and 82% in 2017 and 2018, respectively, and the performance ratio of the PV part, PRPV, was 0.79 and 0.80. The economic feasibility was also analysed based on experimental data, resulting in savings in the levelized cost of electricity of 61%.
Highlights
Diesel generation typically supplies electricity at about 3.5 kWh per liter, which represents a fuel consumption cost of around 0.3 €/kWh
The grid where PV systems are connected is normally very reliable and, every kWh produced by the PV generator can be injected
In the case of the PV irrigation systems, even if they are of very high quality, there are many situations in which, a kWh could be produced by the PV generator, it cannot be generated
Summary
Diesel generation typically supplies electricity at about 3.5 kWh per liter, which represents a fuel consumption cost of around 0.3 €/kWh. The history of PV water pumping to provide drinking water or to irrigate starts in 1973, when Dominique Campana coordinated the installation of the first one in Corsica, France, including a Guinard DC pump fed by Philips PV modules [6,7]. From this first experience till the PV pumping technology has been limited to less than 40 kWp of peak power (the power at standard test conditions, STC [8]). Between 1979 and 1981, the United Nations Development Program implemented a pilot project to test and evaluate
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