On-farm US irrigation pumping plants. Final report

Abstract

Over 473,000 on-farm pumping plants are being used to pump and deliver irrigation water in the United States. The distribution of these units by geographic regions and potential wind power zones was determined. Over 60 percent of the pumping units in the US are smaller than 37.3 kW (50 horsepower) in size and only 9.4 percent of the units are larger than 74.6 kW in size (100 horsepower). Over 49 percent of these pumps (231,440) are located in the six Great Plains States of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. This area also has the largest potential wind power in the US during the primary irrigation season. Over 51 percent of the pumping units are located in wind zones having a potential average wind power greater than 250 W/m/sup 2/ at an elevation of 50 meters. However, only 6.5 percent of the units are located in the largest potential average wind power zone (> 400 W/m/sup 2/ at 50 meters). In general, those areas which have greater potential wind power, have larger sized pumping units.