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Assess the potential of solar irrigation systems for sustaining pasture lands in arid regions – A case study in Northwestern China
Abstract
The combined impact of global climate change and increasing human activities has led to the severe deterioration of grasslands in China. Using the solar irrigation systems is an effective way for sustaining pasture lands in arid regions. A solar irrigation system is the device that uses the solar cell from the sun’s radiation to generate electricity for driving the pump. And photovoltaic pump consists of an array of photovoltaic cells and pumps water from a well or reservoir for irrigation. Although ecologists and organizations constantly work and find ways to conserve grasslands through irrigation systems that use solar energy, issues on water resources are not yet thoroughly discussed. This paper takes into account the main factors in the study of water resources, including precipitation and groundwater, to analyze the feasibility of using a photovoltaic (PV) pumping irrigation. The appropriate area for such a PV pumping irrigation in Qinghai Province is also presented. The results show that the grasslands appropriate for PV pumping cover about 8.145millionha, accounting for 22.3% of the grasslands in the entire province. Finally, the problems and countermeasures of PV pumping irrigation, including the impact on regional water balance, groundwater level and highland permafrost, are also considered.
... It was concluded that the results are satisfactory and that the solar PV pumping system can be used commercially in the regions. It was further observed that solar PV system has better socio-economic and ecological outcomes than conventional diesel engine irrigation system [8]. In Morocco, a solar PV pumping system was installed and studied between 1997 to 2005. ...
... In several regions in the Middle East, Russia and China, the Solar PV pumping irrigation technique is used [9]. Solar PV pumping systems were used to extract groundwater in Egypt, and results prove that the Solar PV systems' overall cost is lower than conventional diesel-operated pumps [9] [8]. Niajalili et. ...
... These villages are scattered near and far from the ongrid station, thus connecting to the grid is uneconomic and expensive. [8]. ...
The agriculture sector has become more and more environmentally friendly around the globe by utilizing renewableenergy technologies however Agriculture sector in Pakistan is facing a two-pronged problem - water shortage andenergy crisis, especially in the context of crop production. Currently, Irrigation in Pakistan is being done by thetube wells mainly run by fossil fuels. The excessive use of fossil fuels in conventional irrigation methods continuesto pollute the environment. Also, increasing the cost of fossil fuels greatly enhances the operational cost of theusers. This paper provides an alternate solution to existing fossil fuel-based irrigation systems by providing thedesign feasibility of the Solar Power Induced Irrigation Method for Pakistan. A detailed theoretical comparativeanalysis is made for this purpose to calculate the total dynamic head, horsepower, no. of solar panels, powerrating of solar panels, and the amount of carbon emission saved by utilizing Solar Induced irrigation system, which isotherwise constantly being emitted by conventional fossil fuel-based irrigation system., The data is gathered throughvarious sources mainly through primary data available at official websites using existing mathematical models andcalculations via MS Excel. Five major crops that include; Wheat, Maize, Rice Sugarcane, and Cotton, of Pakistanare studied in this paper. In conclusion, design parameters for the Solar Induced irrigation system for all the majorcrops have been calculated. It is estimated that for a rice field spreading over an area of one hectare; on average14 no. of Solar panels of 320-Watt capacity each are required to run a 4hp motor pump to maintain the flow rateof 68 m3/day to fulfill the water requirement of the rice crop in Pakistan in a given season. Similar findings ofdesign parameters of five major crops of Pakistan are studied and discussed. The paper stresses the importance ofthe utilization of renewable energy in agriculture along with reducing carbon emissions in the agriculture sector inPakistan. The study reveals that around 8960.30 Kilo Tons of carbon emission will be reduced by employing theSolar PV design in rice the fields in replacement of conventional diesel fueled-based irrigation systems.
... It was concluded that the results are satisfactory and that the solar PV pumping system can be used commercially in the regions. It was further observed that solar PV system has better socio-economic and ecological outcomes than conventional diesel engine irrigation system [8]. In Morocco, a solar PV pumping system was installed and studied between 1997 to 2005. ...
... In several regions in the Middle East, Russia and China, the Solar PV pumping irrigation technique is used [9]. Solar PV pumping systems were used to extract groundwater in Egypt, and results prove that the Solar PV systems' overall cost is lower than conventional diesel-operated pumps [9] [8]. Niajalili et. ...
... These villages are scattered near and far from the ongrid station, thus connecting to the grid is uneconomic and expensive. [8]. ...
The agriculture sector has become more and more environmentally friendly around the globe by utilizing renewable energy technologies however Agriculture sector in Pakistan is facing a two-pronged problem-water shortage and energy crisis, especially in the context of crop production. Currently, Irrigation in Pakistan is being done by the tube wells mainly run by fossil fuels. The excessive use of fossil fuels in conventional irrigation methods continues to pollute the environment. Also, increasing the cost of fossil fuels greatly enhances the operational cost of the users. This paper provides an alternate solution to existing fossil fuel-based irrigation systems by providing the design feasibility of the Solar Power Induced Irrigation Method for Pakistan. A detailed theoretical comparative analysis is made for this purpose to calculate the total dynamic head, horsepower, no. of solar panels, power rating of solar panels, and the amount of carbon emission saved by utilizing Solar Induced irrigation system, which is otherwise constantly being emitted by conventional fossil fuel-based irrigation system., The data is gathered through various sources mainly through primary data available at official websites using existing mathematical models and calculations via MS Excel. Five major crops that include; Wheat, Maize, Rice Sugarcane, and Cotton, of Pakistan are studied in this paper. In conclusion, design parameters for the Solar Induced irrigation system for all the major crops have been calculated. It is estimated that for a rice field spreading over an area of one hectare; on average 14 no. of Solar panels of 320-Watt capacity each are required to run a 4hp motor pump to maintain the flow rate of 68 m3/day to fulfill the water requirement of the rice crop in Pakistan in a given season. Similar findings of design parameters of five major crops of Pakistan are studied and discussed. The paper stresses the importance of the utilization of renewable energy in agriculture along with reducing carbon emissions in the agriculture sector in Pakistan. The study reveals that around 8960.30 Kilo Tons of carbon emission will be reduced by employing the Solar PV design in rice the fields in replacement of conventional diesel fueled-based irrigation systems.
... Out of 718,500 ha of land considered for analysis, around 623,000 ha of land having slope of 0°to 10°is found to be highly suitable for solar-based irrigation. Yu et al. (2011) found that around 8.145 million ha grassland of Qinghai province of China is suitable for solar PV-based water irrigation. Areas with precipitation of about 300 to 400 mm annually are recommended for pump-based irrigation by considering groundwater sustainability. ...
... Additional energy generated from PV panels during nonirrigation hours can used for meeting other domestic power requirements (Gao et al. 2018) f. Creates additional income for farmers and improve the socio-economic status of locals (Yu et al. 2011) Limitations of solar PV water pumping units ...
... The limitations of solar PV water pumping units are listed below (Yu et al. 2011;Closas and Rap 2017;Aliyu et al. 2018): ...
Irrigation is an essential part of agriculture which helps to sustain crop growth and increase food productivity. Most of the nations around the globe have adopted diesel fuel-based pumping units to irrigate their farm lands. However, increased fuel cost and strict emission laws have made these nations to look for alternate and clean energy powered pumping units. Solar water pumping units are more promising alternate to address these concerns. In this review work, types and concepts of available solar thermal and electric energy-based water pumping units are discussed. Suitability of solar PV pumping units in comparison to thermal energy-based units has been listed out. Detailed procedure for sizing solar PV pumping units by considering crop water requirement, head of pump, and local climatic conditions like solar radiation intensity and rainfall have been provided based on inputs from available literatures. In addition, step by step procedure to estimate economics and environmental impacts associated with solar PV water pumping units along with results of latest studies in these areas have also been presented. Solar PV water pumping units are highly recommended for regions with at least 300 to 400 mm rainfall per year and 2 km away from local grid power supply. Moreover, operation of solar PV water pumping units in on-grid mode can reduce its payback period significantly. Pumping cost associated with diesel units are 300.0% higher than solar PV units. Hence, solar PV water pumping units can be considered as an effective and sustainable option to irrigate farmlands. Advantages, limitations of solar PV water pumping, and strategies to improve its acceptability among farmers have also been provided.
... Furthermore, grassland plays a key role in achieving sustainable development and enhancing food security of the country since 100 million livestock are raised in those areas [1]. In recent years, photovoltaic water pumping (PVWP) technology for grassland and farmland conservation was successfully implemented in different pilot sites in China: Qinghai [2,3], Inner Mongolia [4] and Xinjiang [5]. sustainable water management showed that it is technically feasible to improve grassland productivity in areas without access to the grid. ...
... Identification of feasible locations were studied for the implementation of PVWP technology for grassland and farmland conservation in China [2,3]. In these studies, the feasible grassland areas for implementing PVWP irrigation technology were evaluated through the combination of a set of spatial data on land cover and slope, precipitation, temperature and sunshine hours. ...
... The spatial data regarding the land cover and terrain slope were considered to assess the suitable grassland areas for the installation of irrigation systems. According to previous recommendation, the slope must be lower than 2-5% for furrow irrigation and lower than 5-9% for micro-spray irrigation to avoid runoff, soil erosion, and water and energy wastage [2,3]. The suitable annual precipitation for PVWP irrigation systems was between 300 and 600 mm on the basis of grassland water demand [2,3]. ...
... Utilization of vacant land can increase productivity and income of local farmers. The application of solar irrigation is closely related to the condition of water resources and local area [2]. Thus, knowledge of water sources and geographic conditions of the site is necessary for a study. ...
... Utilization of vacant land can increase productivity and income of local farmers. According [2] the application of solar irigation is closely related to the condition of water resources and local area. Thus, knowledge of water sources and geographic conditions of the site is necessary for a study. ...
... Thus, knowledge of water sources and geographic conditions of the site is necessary for a study. [2] also mention some indicators to be considered in solar irrigation systems. Among others are rainfall, land slope, temperature, solar radiation: ...
Simeuleu is one of the districts in Aceh Province which is located in the outer territory of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. In general, communities in districts with island clusters consisting of 147 large and small islands rely on agriculture and fishermen. One of the agricultural sub-sectors that is the main concern of the government is food, especially rice as the staple food of the community. Limited land resources supported by appropriate and adequate infrastructure have resulted in this business experiencing serious challenges and constraints. Of the available rice field area, 43.11% is rainfed lowland. During this time to irrigate some of the land, the potential of rainfall owned is considered able to meet the water needs of rice crops. However, the emergence of global climate change symptoms has led to cultivation efforts that rely on rainwater alone can not be expected completely. The irrigation technology of PV pumps has excellent prospects for the future of agriculture especially the food sector. This technology is very cheap for long term and also simple so easy to make and modified by anyone. PV pump irrigation does not require the operator to operate it, it is only necessary once check and control. The main benefit of solar irrigation technology development is to maintain environmental sustainability because it does not produce air pollution so that it can suppress the increase of global warming.
... The water-energy-food nexus and solar-based groundwater pumping for irrigation. (Burney et al., 2010), India (Shah et al., 2014), Bangladesh (World Bank, 2014, and China (Yu et al., 2011) have also been testing this technology. ...
... The consideration of free access to groundwater by users in these assessments, a situation which exists in many parts of the world (Giordano and Villholth, 2007), assumes the implicit idea that groundwater is available and its 'stock' is unlimited. This is due, in many cases, to a poor valuation of water abstraction rates, or optimistic assessment of hydrogeological variables and processes (Kelley et al., 2010;Yu et al., 2011). The understanding of groundwater flow dynamics often will assume linear recharge rates and a poor consideration of existing climatic and biophysical conditions. ...
... The understanding of groundwater flow dynamics often will assume linear recharge rates and a poor consideration of existing climatic and biophysical conditions. The fact that no groundwater overdraft exists prior to the development of a projector allowed within 'tolerable levels', is an assumption used to justify the development of SGPI according to Yu et al. (2011) in China and not as a potentially limiting factor for such investment. The same research however fails to establish the degree of 'tolerability' or quantify it, endangering the environmental feasibility and future sustainability of these projects. ...
... Furthermore, grassland plays a key role in achieving sustainable development and enhancing food security of the country since 100 million livestock are raised in those areas [1]. In recent years, photovoltaic water pumping (PVWP) technology for grassland and farmland conservation was successfully implemented in different pilot sites in China: Qinghai [2,3], Inner Mongolia [4] and Xinjiang [5]. sustainable water management showed that it is technically feasible to improve grassland productivity in areas without access to the grid. ...
... Identification of feasible locations were studied for the implementation of PVWP technology for grassland and farmland conservation in China [2,3]. In these studies, the feasible grassland areas for implementing PVWP irrigation technology were evaluated through the combination of a set of spatial data on land cover and slope, precipitation, temperature and sunshine hours. ...
... The spatial data regarding the land cover and terrain slope were considered to assess the suitable grassland areas for the installation of irrigation systems. According to previous recommendation, the slope must be lower than 2-5% for furrow irrigation and lower than 5-9% for micro-spray irrigation to avoid runoff, soil erosion, and water and energy wastage [2,3]. The suitable annual precipitation for PVWP irrigation systems was between 300 and 600 mm on the basis of grassland water demand [2,3]. ...
... security of the country since 100 million livestock are raised in those areas [1]. In recent years, PVWP technology for grassland and farmland conservation has been successfully implemented in different pilot sites in China: Qinghai [2,3], Inner Mongolia [4] and Xinjiang [5]. The combination of PVWP technology with water saving irrigation techniques and sustainable water management showed that it is technically feasible to improve grassland productivity in areas without access to the grid. ...
... The combination of PVWP technology with water saving irrigation techniques and sustainable water management showed that it is technically feasible to improve grassland productivity in areas without access to the grid. The grassland productivity can be increased up to 20-30 times using PVWP systems for irrigation, without imposing a severe threat to the available water resources [3]. Moreover, PVWP systems are an economically suitable technology to provide electricity for irrigation both in off-and on-grid areas, avoiding also a further pressure on the energy requirements in the pastoral-farming sector [6]. ...
... There were previous attempts to identify feasible locations for the implementation of PVWP technology in China [2,3]. In these studies, the feasible grassland areas for implementing PVWP irrigation technology were evaluated through the combination of a set of spatial data on land cover and slope, precipitation, temperature and sunshine hours. ...
Grassland is of strategic importance for food security of China because of the high number of livestock raised in those areas. Grassland degradation due to climate change and overgrazing is thus regarded as severe environmental and economic threat for a sustainable future development of China. Photovoltaic water pumping (PVWP) systems for irrigation can play an important role for the conservation of grassland areas, halting degradation, improving its productivity and farmers’ income and living conditions. The aim of this paper is to identify the technically suitable grassland areas for the implementation of PVWP systems by assessing spatial data on land cover and slope, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration and water stress index. Furthermore, the optimal locations for installing PVWP systems have been assessed using a spatially explicit renewable energy systems optimization model based on the minimization of the cost of the whole supply chain. The results indicate that the PVWP-supported grassland areas show high potential in terms of improving forage productivity to contribute to supplying the local demand. Nevertheless, the optimal areas are highly sensitive to several environmental and economic parameters such as ground water depth, forage water requirements, forage price and CO2 emission costs. These parameters need to be carefully considered in the planning process to meet the forage yield potentials.
... Indikator yang perlu diperhatikan dalam sistem irigasi tenaga surya (Yu, et al, 2011), diantaranya: ...
... Jadi kecukupan radiasi matahari akan menjamin penerapan sistem irigasi tenaga matahari. Yu, et al (2011) menetapkan bahwa tingkat penyinaran matahari harus lebih dari 30 % untuk layak mengembangkan sistem irigasi tenaga surya. Berdasarkan data pengukuran, tingkat penyinaran matahari di Desa Situbok rata-rata sebesar 43,75 % yang berarti bahwa daerah ini layak untuk pengembangan sistem irigasi tenaga surya. ...
Abstrak. Teknologi sistem irigasi pompa tenaga surya memiliki prospek yang sangat baik untuk masa depan bidang pertanian khususnya sektor pangan. Teknologi ini sangat murah untuk jangka panjang dan juga sederhana sehingga mudah dibuat dan dimodifikasi oleh siapa saja. Irigasi pompa tenaga surya tidak memerlukan operator untuk mengoperasikannya, hanya diperlukan sekali-kali pengecekan dan pengontrolan. Manfaat utama yang akan didapatkan dari pengembangan teknologi irigasi pompa tenaga surya ini adalah menjaga kelestarian lingkungan hidup karena tidak menghasilkan polusi udara sehingga dapat menekan peningkatan global warming. Teknologi ini termasuk dalam jenis teknologi green energy. Berepara indikator yang perlu diperhatikan dalam pengembangan sistem irigasi tenaga surya, diantaranya: (i) kemiringan yang sesuai untuk sistem irigasi tenaga surya; (ii) radiasi matahari yang sesuai untuk irigasi tenaga surya; (iii) potensi air tanah. Lokasi penelitian ini terletak di Desa Situbok Kecamatan Tepah tengah Kabupaten Simeulue. Hasil pengamatan dan pengukuran menunjukkan bahwa tingkat penyinaran matahari di Desa Situbok rata-rata sebesar 43,75 %.. Disamping itu terdapat pula potensi air tanah dangkal di daerah Situbok dengan kedalaman antara 5 – 10 meter. Data ini menunjukkan bahwa daerah ini layak untuk pengembangan sistem irigasi tenaga surya.
... Glasnovic and Margeta [14] and Kelley et al. [15] suggested that PV irrigation systems could be technically and economically feasible if there is enough land area available for array of the solar energy system. Groundwater PV Pumping systems used in Upper Egypt proved that the water unit cost irrigation pumped by PV power is significantly less than that pumped by diesel systems [16]. ...
... The performance efficiency of PV domestic water pumping system was improved by using storage tank which represented by Badescu [19] and Chandratilleke and Ho [20]. In addition, Yingdong [16] showed that solar energy pumping is suitable for grassland preservation in China. Hrayshat and Al-Soud, [21] represented the potential of PV water pumping system in Jordan. ...
Water requirements in Egypt are growing due to population rise, improving living standard, and agriculture expansion. Nowadays, the agricultural sector represents the largest amount of the total water consumption in Egypt. In addition, the Egyptian government goal is to reclaim - as much - land in the desert to meet the food needs. In Egypt, most of electric energy depends on diesel powered generators; furthermore, desert areas are far away from the electric grids. These are the current considerable problems to reclaim desert in Egypt. On the other hand, delivering and using diesel is facing different economic and environmental risks due to its raising price as well as air pollution and global warming. Sustainable development is a challenge of Egyptian government; therefore, using solar energy applications can serve the unique needs of Egyptians who inhabit in desert area. One of these applications is the “off-grid solar water pumps” that discharge underground water from deep wells for agricultural uses. In this paper an economic study is presented to compare between using pumping system powered by traditional fossil fuel and another system powered by solar energy generated from PV panels to operate a farm in the desert fringes. The water pumping system is designed to irrigate a farm of 10 feddans. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended to use solar energy in desert reclamation due to its long run efficiency, environment conservation, and lower total life cycle cost.
... The photovoltaic pumps have many advantages including they operate on freely available sunlight and therefore incur no fuel or electrical costs. They are also environmentally friendly, reliable and have a long working life (Yingdong et al., 2011). The advantage of using solar energy for pumping the water is that major quantities of water are required during day time and that too during time when the sun is on top of our head, and during these times the PV panels produce maximum energy and hence the water quantity. ...
... PV systems for the pumping of groundwater are also used in Upp er Egypt, proving that the cost of the water unit pumped by PV systems is significantly lesser than that pumped by diesel systems (Yingdong, 2011). 9 million pump sets for irrigation run by diesel out 21 million pump sets in India (3.73 kW (5 HP)). ...
Irrigation is a well established procedure on many farms and is practiced on various levels around the world. It allows diversification of crops, while increasing crop yields. However, typical irrigation systems consume a great amount of conventional energy through the use of electric motors and generators powered by fuel. Photovoltaic energy can find many applications in agriculture, providing electrical energy in various cases, particularly in areas without an electric grid. In this paper the description of reviews on a photovoltaic irrigation system, is presented. Photovoltaic water pumping system is one of the best alternative methods for irrigation. The variation of spatial and temporal distribution of available water for irrigation makes significant demand on water conservation techniques. Hence solar powered Automated Irrigation System provides a sustainable solution to enhance water use efficiency in the agricultural fields using renewable energy system removes workmanship that is needed for flooding irrigation. The use of this photo-irrigation system will be able to contribute to the socioeconomic development. It is the proposed solution for the energy crisis for the Indian farmers. This system conserves electricity by reducing the usage of grid power and easy to implement and environment friendly solution for irrigating fields.
... As shown in Fig. 6, the precipitation and sunshine conditions in China have a clear pattern: Southeast China has more rainfall and fewer sunshine hours, while Northwest China has less rainfall and more sunshine hours. Thus, in relatively dry Northwest China, large-scale irrigation systems have been established to assist the production of crops (Yu et al., 2011). Vast amounts of energy are consumed to run such irrigation systems, escalating CO 2 emissions Xu et al., 2020). ...
... 2007; [7] Hamidat et al., 2009;[8] Yu et al., 2011;[9] Mokeddem et al., 2011; [10] Benghanem et al., 2013). Their results confirmed that these systems could be suitable in arid and semi-arid regions, due to their low and medium head irrigation systems. ...
In this paper, an optimal sizing model has been performed to optimize the different configurations of hybrid PV/diesel water pumping system, (HPDWPS) employing water tank storage. The suggested model involves the sub models of the hybrid system, the Loss of Power Supply Probability, (LPSP) and the Life Cycle Cost, (LCC). Thus, through the application of the studied model, the techno-economic optimization of such system can be easily realized. The adopted methodology suggests different procedures based on the water consumption profiles, total head, tank capacity, diesel generator backup system and photovoltaic array peak power. In the aim to highlight the reliability of the developed model, a case study is conducted to investigate one hybrid system project, which is designed to supply the drinking water to secluded and scattered small villages of Ghardaïa region (South Algeria). Moreover, the optimized hybrid system is compared to other energy source options, namely PV/TANK system and Diesel/TANK.
... Purohit and Michealowa (2005) opined that whilst water storage tank is engaged, the storage tank will be sized to meet the load demand there is no solar irradiance at night [9]. The simplest and mainly dependable of all the system layouts for pumping purposes involves a direct connection flanked by the system and the solar array [10].When a photovoltaic system is used for irrigation purpose, the crop irrigation can now be performed by using quite a few methods such a, surface, subsurface, sprinkler and drip or micro-spray irrigation [11]. Several characteristics make drip irrigation suitable for solar powered systems. ...
Irregular power supply and frequent grid failure are regular phenomenon in Kaduna metropolis. The use of photovoltaic array for water pumping system is one of the most promising techniques in solar energy applications. Deployment of PV based solar pumping system for domestic applications is a viable alternative to replace conventional grid electricity .In this studies, theoretical design, performance and simulation analysis of PV based water pumping system in some selected area of studies in Kaduna with the use of the computer software package PVSYST 7.4.2 version is carried out. The purpose is to evaluate the performances of photovoltaic pumps in the selected boreholes in the studies areas. According to the analysis, the solar water pumping system has an average system efficiency of 57.9 %. Which is in fair agreement with the previous literature, it was concluded that solar water pumping system should be strongly recommended for both urban as well as rural water supply system.
... The shallow roots of herbaceous plants limit them to access water from deep soil layers, resulting in high sensitivity to water deficit (Zhang et al., 2017a). Although irrigation systems in pastures can reduce the vulnerability of grass to drought (Yu et al., 2011), the area covered by irrigation for grass is much smaller compared to natural grasslands, resulting in limited effectiveness in mitigating drought effects. Nevertheless, alpine vegetation exhibited relative low sensitivity to drought, even though they are also dominated by meadow and grass, due to the joint influences of precipitation and the melting of snowpack and frozen soil on water availability (Zhang et al., 2017a). ...
Quantitative assessment of vegetation drought risk is crucial for addressing drought problems and vegetation management under global warming. In this study, we employed a framework based on long-term (2001–2019) vegetation Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) to quantify drought risk, considering vegetation vulnerability, exposure, and hazard to drought. The results revealed that vegetation drought risk was influenced by drought hazard (55.15%), exposure (24.46%), and vulnerability (20.39%). Approximately 48% of study pixels experienced moderate to high drought risk, primarily concentrated in northeastern to southwestern China. In terms of vegetation types, forest suffered the highest drought risk, followed by cropland, while grassland had the mildest drought risk. Notably, croplands in northern China experienced relatively high drought risk, posing a threat to food security. Therefore, it is imperative to consider appropriate crop management practices such as irrigation and crop rotation to mitigate the impact of droughts. Temperature and precipitation are key climatic factors affecting vegetation drought risk in moderate-to-high risk areas. Warming inhibited drought risk by promoting vegetation growth, but also consumed water to promote drought risk. Meanwhile, increased rainfall in parts of northern China may be caused by extreme weather events that intensify vegetation vulnerability, thus aggravating drought risk. Our research provided scientific guidance to understand and cope with drought risk induced by climate change on vegetation.
... Nevertheless, pumping SDI Xufei Liu and Mengxue Han have contributed equally to this work. systems brought large electric energy consumption, and the complex structure of high-performance drip emitters with pressure-compensated ability also increased the investment in SDI system (Yu et al. 2011;Zavala et al. 2020;Grant et al. 2022). Therefore, due to crop production levels in dryland being seen as a promising way to address global food demands, it is essential to lower the cost of SDI systems in region dominated by smallholder farmers, such as Northwest China, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Eastern India. ...
Dryland water resource scarcity has been the most challenging issue facing the continuous development of irrigated agricultural systems. Although drip irrigation, especially subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) technology, reduced water loss from soil evaporation and increased water use efficiency (WUE), drip emitter with pumps brought large electric energy consumption and management cost, limiting its application for smallholders in dryland. Therefore, a new subsurface ceramic emitter (SCE) without using pumps, which consisted of a porous ceramic diaphragm, plastic washers, and plastic shells, was designed for smallholders in this study. Then its application effects were estimated using hydraulic, soil bin, pot, and field experiments. The results showed that the discharge of SCE in the air had a positive linear relationship with the working water head. The discharge of SCE in soil presented a power function relationship with the working water head, and the discharge exponent was 0.40. It was recommended that SCE should install at flat farmland with a topographic slope less than ± 5‰ to acquire an acceptable coefficient of uniformity (CU) under the working water head of more than 40 cm. A field experiment in Northwest China showed that SCE with a working water head of 60 cm created a suitable water moisture environment and CU, improving fruit yield and WUE of wolfberry. This provided an alternative irrigation method using SCE with a lower working water head for smallholders in dryland while ensuring a good CU.
... Existen diferentes tipos de sistemas de riego, cada uno es importante de acuerdo con la labor que desempeñe. Los sistemas de riego independientes no requieren de un banco de batería para almacenar la energía, eso los convierte en un campo activo de investigación (Yahyaoui et al., 2014;Yu et al., 2011) porque son ambientalmente eficientes y en la actualidad están siendo usados en todo el mundo para riego en sistemas agrícolas (Yahyaoui et al., 2013;Yahyaoui et al., 2016;Carroquino et al., 2015). En los sistemas de riego fotovoltaico directos no se requiere acumular agua ni energía (Hamidat & Benyoucef, 2009); como su nombre lo indica, en esos sistemas el agua es bombeada directamente al cultivo, eso disminuye los costos del reservorio y las pérdidas por evaporación . ...
Se presenta el dimensionamiento de un sistema de riego aplicado a un cultivo de limón, haciendo uso de la energía solar. Dicho riego cumplió con valores de evapotranspiración potencial (ETP) de 4,31 mm/día y Uso Consuntivo (UC) de 1,85 mm/ha/día, cuya matriz experimental se encuentra compuesta por tres surcos de 57 árboles con requerimiento de 64,91 litros/árbol/día, utilizando goteros de una descarga de 4 litros/hora. El estudio demuestra en un nivel altamente significativo que la humedad se concentra en una profundidad de 15 cm, influenciado por las características físicas arenosas del suelo. Para el requerimiento del agua de riego, se dimensiona un sistema solar, obteniendo un arreglo de diez paneles en serie y dos en paralelo para un total de veinte en conjunto, un inversor de una capacidad de 5,0 kWp, para alimentar una bomba de 2 HP y una vivienda, con consumo promedio de 1,5 kWp, conectado a una red de baja tensión de 220V. La eficiencia global del sistema se registró en el rango de 10 y 14 % y la potencia máxima de salida del sistema fotovoltaico se alcanzó entre las 10 y las 14 horas con un 84 % de la capacidad total instalada (5,2 kWp).
... On the other hand, the carbon emissions and final energy costs of PV systems in remote areas are lower and their longer life span makes them good options (Muhsen et al., 2017b). If the solar pumping systems are properly situated, they will be superior alternatives to the diesel pump stations in far-flung regions (Yu et al., 2011). ...
Utilizing the solar energy from photovoltaic panels integrated into a water pumping system to provide electricity for dispersed villages that have no access to backup systems not only reduces the electricity grid costs and environmental pollutants but also is an innovative approach in areas with sufficient solar irradiation. Therefore, identifying and studying the feasibility of stand-alone solar power plants in various locations is the first step in using this reliable source of energy. For this reason, 93 sites in the provinces of Razavi Khorasan, Northern Khorasan, and Southern Khorasan, Iran, were chosen by the renewable energy organization engineers as regions with high potential for establishing a solar water pumping station. The goals of this research were to prioritize the 93 sites and find the perfect location for the establishment of the aforementioned station. In order to investigate and prioritize these sites, a multi-criteria decision-making method, namely, TOPSIS (technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution), has been used. Therefore, the geographical locations of the sites and the weather in these provinces have been studied; consequently, 15 important and essential criteria, including slope, solar irradiation, precipitation, wind speed, relative humidity, altitude, distance from substation, distance from grid, obtainable solar energy capacity, distance from river, population, distance from city center, distance from road, average temperature, and number of dams in the vicinity of the site, have been chosen. All the aforementioned criteria have been weighted using the Shannon entropy method, and then the sites have been prioritized using the TOPSIS method. The results indicated that Sarayan, Isk, Esfadan, and Dasht Byaz in Southern Khorasan and then Beydokht 2 in Razavi Khorasan are the top five locations and Shosef in Southern Khorasan is the least favorite location for establishing a solar pumping station. In order to achieve more reliable results, sensitivity analysis was implemented.
... They advocate the use of solar PV systems to circumvent this 'vexed' problem (Shah, Scott, Kishore, & Sharma, 2007;. Other researchers have pointed out that adoption of solar-powered irrigation pumps will aggravate the problem of groundwater overdraft because users are not confronted with the marginal cost of running their pumps (Bassi, 2016;Yu, Liu, Wang, & Liu, 2011). To address concerns related to the pervasive incentives for over-pumping groundwater, it is suggested that incentives be offered to farmers to make optimum use of solar pumps for pumping groundwater , so as to save the surplus electricity produced from the system for sale. ...
... Standalone irrigation systems are also environmentally efficient since they do not require a battery bank to store energy. For this reason, off-grid PV irrigation systems are an active field of research [3,4] and they are being used for many types of agricultural systems throughout the world [5][6][7]. ...
Standalone direct pumping PV irrigation systems are a special type of PV system in which water is not lifted to a tank but, instead, is pumped to the irrigation system to satisfy the crop water needs. The operation of these PV irrigation systems requires efficient new operation rules in order to maximize the energy use efficiency as the PV energy must be used instantaneously. In this work, we introduce a new multisector approach based on the simultaneous operation of several irrigation sectors according to the incoming energy. An innovative analytical model was implemented in order to optimize the operation of a multisector PV irrigation system. The proposed model was evaluated by applying it to a case study. The results of said study showed that simultaneous operation reduced the cost of the PV plant since it required a lower number of PV modules (lower Peak power) and it also outperformed the individual operation scenario in terms of energy use efficiency as 18.4% of the potential PV energy was effectively delivered to the irrigation sectors (only 15.4% for individual operation). The design of the irrigation system was also affected by the adopted operation strategy. Lower nominal flowrate of the emitters and higher irrigation time per sector were preferable in simultaneous operation than in the case of individual operation.
... Yu et al. [47] in order to provide solutions for pasture conservation in arid lands in China, carried out a study to evaluate the potential of the solar irrigation system in order to sustain pasture lands. In their study, the researchers took into account the main factors in the study of water resources, including precipitation and groundwater, to analyze the feasibility of using the PV pumping system in irrigation. ...
... The lower cost of solar pumping system will be selected by all farmers in the future because not only, the cost of PV panel decreased by over 80% in the last 10 years but also, the cost of diesel or gasoline increased by over 250% (Foster and Cota, 2014), Hence there was a comparison between two systems the first was PV water pumping system while the second was diesel water pumping system by the life cycle cost (LCC) analysis resulted that the first system was the more economical choice (Narale et al., 2013). On other hand the PV water pumping system was obtainable as the commercial product, had proved efficiency, require few expert manpower once when operated, and maintenance cost was much low and cheap (Yingdong et al., 2011). Moreover, solar PV is characterized as a renewable resource doesn't produce any harmful contaminants to the surrounding environment vice versa in the case of fossil fuels which produce harmful gases (Guiqiang et al., 2017). ...
Solar water pumping for irrigation and drinking purposes is considered one of the
most recently power system needed. The most important usage of solar pumping systems is to irrigate
the agricultural lands to help farmers instead of using electrical or fuel system that take a lot of time,
high cost, effort and much losses. In this research, the performance evaluation of a mini water pump (5
Watt) powered by small solar photovoltaic (PV) panel (10 Watt) was investigated to supply the needed
water for irrigating roof cultivation units. The experiments were carried out at Faculty of Agriculture,
Zagazig University, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt (Latitude 30.5o – Longitude 31.5o) in winter and
summer seasons of 2018. Two solar pumping systems were evaluated; DC solar pumping system
(DSPS) and AC solar pumping system (ASPS) under different operating parameters of PV panel tilt
angles (15o, 30o, 45o, 60o and 75o), solar radiation hours during daylight (9:00 to 15:00) and pumping
heads (0 ,0.5, 1 and 1.5 m). All parameters were evaluated by determinations of pumping discharge,
hydraulic energy, pump efficiency and cost. The obtained results revealed that, the best PV panel tilt
angle for Zagazig region was 45o and 30o in winter and summer, respectively. Discharges and
pumping efficiencies of ASPS were higher than DSPS. The optimum pumping conditions were 0.25
and 1 m of pumping heads with 220 l/hr., and (83 l/hr., for winter, 88 l/hr., for summer) of pumping
discharge for ASPS and DSPS, respectively. Pumping costs of one cubic meter of water by DSPS at
pumping heads of 0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 m were (0.16, 0.17, 0.19 and 0.21 LE) and (0.15, 0.17, 0.19 and
0.21 LE), during winter and summer seasons, respectively. While pumping costs of one cubic meter of
water using ASPS were about 0.22, 0.45, 1.23 and 7.11 LE/m3 at the same heads, respectively. So, a
small size of solar PV power system can be efficiently supply irrigation water for roof cultivation units.
... They advocate the use of solar PV systems to circumvent this 'vexed' problem (Shah, Scott, Kishore, & Sharma, 2007;Shah, Verma, & Durga, 2014). Other researchers have pointed out that adoption of solar-powered irrigation pumps will aggravate the problem of groundwater overdraft because users are not confronted with the marginal cost of running their pumps (Bassi, 2016;Yu, Liu, Wang, & Liu, 2011). To address concerns related to the pervasive incentives for over-pumping groundwater, it is suggested that incentives be offered to farmers to make optimum use of solar pumps for pumping groundwater , so as to save the surplus electricity produced from the system for sale. ...
... Grassland ecosystems are highly sensitive to climate change and disturbance of human activities [10][11][12]. Understanding various issues related to grassland deterioration is crucial for its restoration [12][13][14]. Climate change, such as global warming and altered precipitation patterns, and human activities, such as reclamation of grassland and overgrazing, are generally accepted to be the underlying drivers associated with grassland degradation [5,[15][16][17][18][19]. ...
In mountain-basin systems in the arid region, grasslands are sensitive to the impacts of climate change and human activities. In this study, we aimed to resolve two key scientific issues: (1) distinguish and explain the laws of grassland ecosystem deterioration in a mountain-basin system and identify the key factors related; and (2) evaluate whether damaged grasslands ecosystem have the potential for natural revegetation. Hence, by combining spatial analysis with statistical methods, we studied the trends of the deterioration of the grassland ecosystem and its spatial characteristics in Kulusitai, a mountain-basin system in the arid region of Northwest China. According to our results, vegetation coverage and productivity exhibited significant decreasing trends, while the temperature vegetation drought index (TVDI) exhibited a significant increasing trend. Drainage of groundwater, because of increase in irrigation for the expanded irrigated area around Kulusitai, and climate warming were the critical triggers that leaded to the soil drought. Soil drought and overgrazing, resulting from the impact of human activities, were the main factors responsible for the deterioration of the grassland ecosystems. However, limiting the number of livestock to a reasonable scale and reducing the irrigated area may help to increase the soil moisture, thus promoting the germination of soil seed banks and facilitating the normal growth of grassland vegetation. Furthermore, based on analysis of the phenology of the grassland vegetation, the reasonable period for harvesting and storage is from July 29 to August 5. The results of this study provide a scientific basis and practical guide for restoring mountain-basin grassland systems in arid regions.
... Several photovoltaic pumping systems have been installed in developed countries in order to contribute to the improvement of the water supply in rural regions [7][8][9][10][11][12]. Fourteen photovoltaic pumping systems have been installed in Tunisia [1][2][3]. ...
This paper studied the modeling, the command and the optimization of a photovoltaic (PV) pumping systems using performed strategies of command laws. The system is formed by a PV generator, a DC-DC converter with a maximal power point tracking (MPPT) command, a DC-AC converter with V/f command law and a submersed motor-pump. The first part of this paper presents the obtained models of the various components of the PV pumping system. Dynamic commands composed of a V/f and MPPT laws are calculated around the converters. The MPPT command insures the power adaptation between PV generator and load whereas the V/f command insures a PWM control of the asynchronous motor and a sinusoidal output signal. Some important results of simulation of the PV pumping system under the environment of MATLAB/SIMULINK are presented. In the second part of this paper some experimental results of a PV pumping system installed in Tunisia are developed. Those results are used to validate the simulating model and to test the performances of the command approach.
... Furthermore, a third novelty is that, apart from the technical quality of the components, the performance of the PV system is not only affected by intrinsic-to-design characteristics (for example, pumping at a given head requires the irradiance to be higher than a certain threshold, which implies corresponding irradiation losses), but also by circumstances external to the system. In fact, the PV system only works when water is both available at the source and required by the plants [40]. The corresponding useful period (and, again, corresponding irradiation losses) substantially varies from case to case and from year to year. ...
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%.
... Among others, it has been shown that photovoltaic and solar thermal systems are an appropriate technology for an agricultural application (photovoltaic pumping system, heating/cooling), especially for rural or remote areas [2]. A study in China, successfully utilizes the use of PV cells for generating electricity from the solar radiation in order to operate an irrigation system which is composed of PV cells, a water pump, irrigation wells, and a storage tank [3]. In Algeria, a study was conducted, involving a photovoltaic water pumping system in the remote villages of Ghardaia to optimize the capacity of the different components of that system using water tank storage [4]. ...
Greenhouse cultivation is an essential activity for the development of the agricultural sector, and most of the energy consumption is in the agricultural industry. The increase in fossil fuels cost and their negative effects on the environment, limit the use of heating/cooling and irrigation applications.
Renewable energy is an alternative solution for water pumping and irrigation of isolated and arid regions. This article analyzes the heating/cooling and irrigation requirements of a pilot greenhouse and provides two solutions by combining thermal energy storage with phase change material as well as photovoltaic systems for cooling and irrigation.
Results have shown that monthly heating and cooling demands were at 2.25 kW and 2 kW, respectively. Monthly water consumption varies between 3.5 m³ and 38 m³ for the three sample products such as tomato, muskmelon, and watermelon. The technologies proposed can fully satisfy these heating/cooling and water requirements.
Furthermore, an economic analysis for this technology has been carried out in contrast to a diesel system. The results obtained indicate that the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of a photovoltaic system is acceptable when compared with the diesel system, where LCOEPV = 0.068$/kWh and LCOEDiesel = 0.230$/kWh. Taking into account that the water price for a PV system amounts to 1.48$ whereas the cost for a diesel system is at 2.68$, the former can be declared more economically feasible. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38:e13029, 2019
... On the contrary, lower ambient temperatures and higher wind velocities are observed throughout the rest of the year. According to [46], PVWP systems are suitable for annual ambient temperatures below 20 C and sunshine durations greater than 1400 h. For the considered site, the average annual ambient temperature is estimated to be 18 C and the annual sunshine hours greatly exceed the indicative value of 1400 h. ...
... Pump irrigation with solar energy sources has been able to overcome the severe detriment of grasslands in China as a combined effect of global climate change and increased human activity. The solar panels that generate electricity are used to drive the pump with wells or reservoirs as the water sources [8]. A solar-powered water pumping unit integrated with drip irrigation was designed, installed and tested in a solar farm in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India [9]. ...
Irrigation system using ring-type emitter is one of the subsurface irrigation system forms which is done by placing an emitter around the root zone. With the addition of mulch applications, water losses from evaporation in this irrigation system can be reduced. This kind of irrigation system is suitable for dryland. The purpose of this research is to develop an irrigation system with ring-type emitter on annual and perennial crops in dryland. Perennial crops consist of young Vine-crops, young Mango crop, and Srikaya crop, while annual crop used was the Bird Pepper crop. In the application of this system to annual crops, two Mariotte tubes were used to supply 106 Bird Pepper crops. Solar energy was used as a pump energy source to fill the Mariotte tubes and the energy for the microcontroller data logger. Meanwhile, for the perennial crops, one Mariotte tube was used for one crop. The soil texture at the study site was Sandy-Clay-Loam, which was dominated by 59.67% of sand. Rainfall during the study was 58.5 mm. Drylands that used to be fallow during the dry season, can now be used for agricultural activities with the application of the ring irrigation system.
... If the slope is high, runoff may be formed for the restriction of infiltration, resulting in resource and energy wastage as well as soil erosion. The slope must not be more than 2-5% for furrow irrigation, while the slope must not be more than 0.2% for border irrigation [5] . According to the actual situation of Guangxi cassava planting, considering the slope less than 5 degrees for the highly suitable irrigation area, slope of 5 degrees to 15 degrees for a more suitable area, for the slope of 15-25 is critical area, for slope more than 25 degrees is not suitable for regional. ...
Cassava is one of the most important cash crop in Guangxi Autonomous Region. The water demanded regulation of cassava is not coincident with the temporal and spatial distribution of precipitation. Irrigation is quite necessary for the growth of Cassava. Solar water pumping system is an effective way for Cassava irrigation. In this paper, the temporal and spatial distribution of Cassava is analyzed first. The potential and distribution of solar energy is also discussed. Considering the main factors including precipitation and slope to analyze the feasibility of solar water pumping system for Cassava irrigation. The results indicate that the Cassava appropriated for solar water pumping cover718 thousand and 500 hectares. The best matching region covers in 623 thousand hectares.
... Mobility of these systems is optional, but it allows easier transportation from one place to another. Because of these characteristics, mobile solar "OFFgrid" systems are often used in agriculture for the purposes of the irrigation [5][6]. ...
... Mobility of these systems is optional, but it allows easier transportation from one place to another. Because of these characteristics, mobile solar "OFFgrid" systems are often used in agriculture for the purposes of the irrigation [5][6]. ...
The paper presents multi-purpose mobile solar generator with modular structure, which provides power supply for both, single and three-phase consumers, in symmetrical, as well as unsymmetrical conditions. The additional feature of this device - pressure control in irrigation systems with three-phase centrifugal pump, is analyzed in details. The concept of irrigation systems based on the use of sprinklers is applied on a land plot with vegetables. Special attention is paid to the synthesis of PI pressure controller on the basis
of a detailed mathematical models of the specific pumping system and mobile solar generator. The paper presents the results of measurements which were obtained in the
real conditions on a land plot with irrigation system, with a critical review of the results obtained from the simulation model.
... They advocate the use of solar PV systems to circumvent this 'vexed' problem (Shah, Scott, Kishore, & Sharma, 2007;Shah, Verma, & Durga, 2014). Other researchers have pointed out that adoption of solar-powered irrigation pumps will aggravate the problem of groundwater overdraft because users are not confronted with the marginal cost of running their pumps (Bassi, 2016;Yu, Liu, Wang, & Liu, 2011). To address concerns related to the pervasive incentives for over-pumping groundwater, it is suggested that incentives be offered to farmers to make optimum use of solar pumps for pumping groundwater , so as to save the surplus electricity produced from the system for sale. ...
India is on a path to reduce its carbon emission intensity with a major thrust on increasing the grid-connected solar photovoltaic capacity. However, the carbon footprint in agriculture is on the rise. Heavy subsidies for electricity and diesel to pump groundwater for irrigated agriculture, combined with lack of regulations on water withdrawal, are resulting in both groundwater over-exploitation and increased carbon emissions. Some researchers and practitioners have suggested large-scale promotion of solar pumps for well irrigation as a way to make agricultural growth carbon-neutral and groundwater use in farming sustainable. This article examines whether solar pumps for groundwater irrigation are technically feasible and economically viable in India.
... The engineering literature frequently refers to bird droppings as a contaminant on solar panels, often with a proposal for a mechanism to remove guano (Ramaprabha, 2009;AlDhaheri et al., 2010;Dorobantu et al., 2011;Lamont and El Chaar, 2011;Vasiljev et al., 2013;Xie et al., 2013;Ghazi and Ip, 2014;Maghami et al., 2014;Mondal andBansal, 2015a, 2015b), or makes reference to bird shadow as an obstacle to optimisation of energy generation potential (Ramaprabha, 2009;Liu and Liu, 2011;Pareek and Dahiya, 2014;Uprety and Lee, 2014;Liu et al., 2015). Interestingly, Pareek and Dahiya (2014) ...
i. The UK energy landscape is partially orienting towards renewable electricity generation. Recently, this has begun to include solar PV (photovoltaic) technologies.
ii. Solar PV technologies exist at a distributed scale (e.g. roof mounted solar panels) and at utility scale (i.e. solar farms) in the UK.
iii. Utility scale solar PV developments are likely to have a greater ecological impact than distributed scale developments due to their larger size and the requirement for new infrastructure. As such, this review will focus on utility scale solar PV developments.
iv. Birds and bats have been identified by Natural England as the taxa most urgently requiring an evidence base for potential impacts relating to solar PV developments. The focus of this review will be on these taxa, however general ecological impacts will also be considered.
v. Around 420 scientific documents with potential relevance to this review were identified using tailored search strings and subsequently screened for evidence relating to the ecological impacts of solar farms. The majority of these documents were of no relevance, and were returned by the literature search due to irresolvable linguistic and conceptual ambiguities. These documents were not considered further.
vi. Grey literature from a total of 37 non-governmental and governmental organisations was examined for evidence of the potential ecological impacts of solar farms.
vii. Twelve rejected planning applications for solar PV developments with generating capacity of > 1 MW in the north west of England were examined to determine whether these rejections were made on an ecological basis.
viii. No peer reviewed experimental scientific evidence exists relating solely to the ecological impacts of solar PV developments.
ix. Some scientific and grey literature data, based upon carcass searches around solar PV developments suggests that bird collision risk from solar panels is very low. There is likely to be more of a collision risk to birds presented by infrastructure associated with solar PV developments, such as overhead power lines.
x. Evidence from both the grey literature and the peer-reviewed scientific literature suggests that protected areas should be avoided when considering site selection of solar PV developments, with some sources suggesting that locations close to protected areas should be avoided also. This recommendation is not quantified in any of the reviewed literature.
xi. Indirect evidence of bird presence is often presented in the engineering literature, where designs for solar panel cleaning devices often cite bird droppings as a contaminant.
xii. Solar panels have the capacity to reflect polarised light which can attract polarotactic insects, which has the potential to impact their reproductive biology. The polarising effect of solar panels may also induce drinking behaviour in some bird taxa, where the birds mistake the panels for water.
xiii. Birds and bats should be assessed by taxon or guild, with different behavioural traits and habitat requirements taken into consideration. The potential for solar developments to attract or repel birds or bats should be considered, alongside the potential for negative interactions to occurs between these taxa and solar farms.
xiv. Future research should focus on examining the potential of solar PV developments to support biodiversity. The grey literature often refers to mitigation/enhancement practices such as wildflower meadow planting, hedgerow laying and tree planting with some grey literature studies attempting to quantify diversity on solar PV sites. These studies should be formalised and replicated within a scientific framework.
xv. Governmental and non-governmental organisations that provide advice and guidance that may have ecological implications have a duty to contribute to evidence towards their guidance, especially where evidence is lacking. In the case of solar farms, there is almost no evidence and research into their ecological impacts is urgently needed.
... Thus, studies related to irrigation applications were reported in [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Their results demonstrated that these systems can be considered appropriate in arid and Saharan regions, low and medium head irrigation systems, and cost-competitive when used to power micro irrigation systems as compared to overhead sprinkler systems. ...
Usually, water-pumping systems for diesel generator DG were used to extract the water in particular in remote areas. However, growth in the photovoltaic (PV) market and wind power make them competitive. In this context, a comparative study of three different types of pumping systems with tank storage namely PV / DG / Tank, PV / Tank and DG / Tank have been proposed. A techno-economic study of these configurations is proposed. The study is based on two concepts: the reliability by the Loss of Power Supply Probability (LPSP) model and the economic by the Life Cycle Cost (LCC). The methodology adopted suggests different procedures based on the water consumption profiles, total head, tank capacity, diesel generator buck-up system and photovoltaic array peak power. To highlight the developed models, a case study was conducted to select the best configuration, which is designed to supply drinking water in secluded and scattered small villages situated in Ghardaia region, South Algeria. Hence, the three configurations are compared and the results shows that the hybrid PV/DG water pumping system with water tank storage is the most economically reliable configuration.
... Se han desarrollado numerosos estudios de aplicación de sistemas fotovoltaicos para el riego, como Yu et al. (2011), que realizaron un estudio de viabilidad del riego solar para zonas de pastos en China. Kelley et al. (2010) desarrollaron un estudio de viabilidad de estos sistemas y los compararon con fuentes de energía convencionales, como el gasoil o sistemas eléctricos. ...
... They advocate the use of solar PV systems to circumvent this 'vexed' problem (Shah, Scott, Kishore, & Sharma, 2007;Shah, Verma, & Durga, 2014). Other researchers have pointed out that adoption of solar-powered irrigation pumps will aggravate the problem of groundwater overdraft because users are not confronted with the marginal cost of running their pumps (Bassi, 2016;Yu, Liu, Wang, & Liu, 2011). To address concerns related to the pervasive incentives for over-pumping groundwater, it is suggested that incentives be offered to farmers to make optimum use of solar pumps for pumping groundwater , so as to save the surplus electricity produced from the system for sale. ...
... They reported that the model reduced the data acquisition and computation period and was very much useful to estimate the cost of SPVWPS in developing countries like India, Bhutan and Nepal. Similar studies on the performance and effectiveness of SPVWPS for particular site, application and climatic conditions are reported in the literatures from [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. Table 3 consolidates the reported investigations on performance of different types of solar pumps. ...
Solar photovoltaic water pumping system (SPVWPS) has been a promising area of research for more than 50 years. In the early 70s, efforts and studies were undertaken to explore the possibility of SPVWPS as feasible, viable and economical mean of water pumping. SPVWPS consists of different components and parts associated with different fields of engineering like mechanical, electrical, electronics, computer, control and civil engineering. The interdisciplinary nature of the system attracted the researchers, in the past, from all these fields of engineering and has been contributed by them to make the system more efficient and cost-effective to meet water-pumping needs of human, livestock and irrigation. The detailed literature available suggests that the research work on SPVWPS is not confined to any particular field of engineering. This review paper is an attempt to give a comprehensive review of the literature available on SPVWPS from the year 1975 to the year 2014. The review work discusses the general classification of SPVWPS, historical background of solar pumping systems, various efforts undertaken by researchers working on the different aspects of SPVWPS and the present status of research on the topic. The literature review of the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) system, different types of pumps and motors and rating of photovoltaic (PV) panel, which affect the performance, efficiency and economy of the SPVWPS system, has been incorporated in detail.
... Researchers have evaluated feasibility of photoirrigation system and for different countries and regions. Yu et al. [25] was evaluated for grassland in Northwestern China, Elham and Hossen [26] in Egypt, Glasnovic and Margeta [27] in Croatia, Hamidat et al. [28] in Sahara regions, Yesilata and Firatoglu [29] in Turkey, Kalkan et al. [30] in UK (Highfield Campus of University of Southampton). Kelly et al. [31] was improved a method for calculating the feasibility of photovoltaic-powered irrigation and implemented different countries as Badajoz, Spain; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Tell-Amara, Lebanon; and Wadi-Wala, Jordan. ...
In this study, an irrigation system with two pieces Brushless DC Motors (BLDC) supplying with solar energy has been designed and applied. One of them to drive deep well pump and the other one to drive centrifugal pump were utilized for the system. Optimum power of motors and solar panels were selected according to calculated maximum power consumption. A 1.6 kW deep well pump with BLDC has been utilized for the purpose of water storing to a pool of 100 tons located nearby a garden, and a 3 kW centrifugal pump with BLDC has been utilized for the purpose of transferring of water waited in pool to drip irrigation system. The need of energy of deep well pump system has been provided from 24 pieces of 80 W solar panels with sun tracking system and energy requirement of centrifugal pump system has been met from 24 pieces of 80 W solar panels and 8 pieces 12 V, 65 Ah batteries. A direct current-direct current (DC-DC) buck converter has been designed to feed motor and charge the batteries when it is not necessary to feed motor with centrifugal pump. The energy obtained from solar panels was kept in maximum value according to the panel characteristics with the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm used for this converter. Designed system has been utilized for the drip irrigation of dwarf cherry tree of 1000 pieces planted to an area of 8 decares located in 40°10'48.12" North and 35°51'59.21 East coordinates of Zile District of Tokat Province of Turkey. Irrigation of trees has been realized with drippers each having a capacity of delivering 2 liters per hour and kept under 3 bars pressure. Installation of drip irrigation system is 20 times expensive but operation of drip irrigation is 10 times cheaper than flooding method. The payback period of installed system comes to 5 years.
... The performance of four submersible PV water pumping systems in Tunisia has been investigated [120] and results showed that the maximum overall efficiency of the system was 3.7% and the mean efficiency of the whole system was 2.5% at constant head pumping. Whereas, the potential of solar irrigation systems for sustaining pasture lands in arid regions in China [121] reported that PV pumping could cover about 8.145 million ha appropriately for the grasslands. ...
Water and energy are intimately related, as water is required for energy applications and energy is required for water-based technologies. Two large groups of photovoltaic adoptions have been identified in this review: first, those in which the photovoltaic system is separated from the water technology. In second group, the photovoltaic system is in physical contact with the water technology thereby its performance is affected either in a positive or negative way. The novelty of this review work lies in the classification of photovoltaic system adoption in various water related technologies. Apart from classification, discussions on system configurations, working aspects, performance aspects, economic aspects and scope for further investigations have been presented in detail. Wastewater treatment plants are identified to be the most suitable site for photovoltaic module installation and utilization. Among power sectors, hydro power plants are highly compatible with photovoltaic adoption because it enhances hydro power plant’s operation time and utilization. Floating photovoltaic, submerged photovoltaic, agrivoltaic, aquavoltaic and solar photovoltaic + water disinfection are relatively new, highly attractive and have more scope for further improvements. Agrivoltaic and aquavoltaic increases crop & sea food production, enhances farmers’ income, encourage clean energy transition and rural electrification. Research works in the area of unmanned photovoltaic based water vehicles, photovoltaic salt harvest and various applications of water based photovoltaic/thermal modules have also been discussed. This review will serve as a guidebook for researchers and policy makers to identify and select suitable configuration of photovoltaic–water related technologies for implementation and further investigations.
Due to the lack of stable irrigation water sources and low rainwater utilization efficiency, soil water deficit has become the main factor restricting the sustainable development of the apple industry in the Loess Plateau. The scientific and efficient use of rainwater for irrigation may provide a new solution to alleviate the regional soil water deficit. Rainwater is the only water source for the growth of apple trees, and whether it can be used as a stable and sustainable irrigation water source should be quantitatively considered. At present, there is still a lack of quantitative data to support whether rainwater can meet the irrigation needs of apple orchards. In this research, rainwater harvesting technology is combined with a solar intelligent irrigation system equipped with soil moisture sensors to form a high-efficiency rainwater irrigation (HRI) mode suitable for dryland apple orchards. Through practical application, this study found that HRI mode can effectively improve the soil drought of 0–200 cm and keep the soil water content in a relatively stable range during the apple growth period. Compared with only using rainwater harvesting technology and combined with traditional irrigation methods (SDI), HRI mode can increase apple yield by 56.2% and 22.0%, WUE by 40.4% and 12.6%, respectively. With the increase of apple yield, HRI mode has good economic feasibility, and its economic recovery period is 2 years. On the regional scale, this study selected irrigation guarantee rate and solar energy resources as evaluation indicators to further divide the areas suitable for rainwater irrigation in apple-cultivating region on the Loess Plateau. The area where the irrigation guarantee rate of rainwater was greater than 75% is 1.22 × 10⁷ m², accounting for 47.6% of the total area. This means that apple production in the Loess Plateau can increase by approximately 549.8 tons/year, save 1.5 × 10⁴ m³ of irrigation water resources, and increase WUE by about 33.4%. Under the two different future climate scenarios (RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5), the area accounted for 49.7% and 57.2% respectively, which was higher than the current situation. The areas with high rainwater irrigation guarantee rates are mostly concentrated in the central and southern parts of the apple-cultivating region. To maintain the sustainable development of the orchard ecological environment, areas with insufficient rainwater should assist other water management measures. In conclusion, high-efficiency rainwater irrigation can effectively alleviate the water contradiction in apple-cultivating region. In future agricultural water management, more attention should be paid to precision rainwater irrigation to ensure the coordinated development of agricultural economy and ecological environment.
Rapid population increase, urbanization, and dietary changes present an increasing requirement for pasture lands for food processing in China. Globalization increases worldwide economic links. The displacement of pasture lands from one place to another occurs when goods are traded among industries and regions, thereby shifting pressures on local pasture land resources. This paper applies a systems input–output model to examine how pasture lands in China are used to meet the demands of domestic consumption and international trade over the period of 2000–2015. Agriculture and Food Processing were the two major sectors that contributed to the largest volume of embodied pasture land for fulfilling household demands in 2015. Although the total consumption-based pasture land use in China is fluctuating, embodied pasture land intensities exhibited a decreasing trend in 2000–2015, thereby showing the effort of China to improve pasture land use efficiency. Regarding trade patterns, the Agriculture sector is the largest net importer of pasture lands in China, while the Garment sector is the largest net exporter. We also find that China is a net exporter of embodied pasture lands through the study period. This systematic analysis of pasture land use in China is critical in customizing and prioritizing policy recommendations for sustainable pasture land management in China.
This systematic, evidence-based literature review examines the effectiveness of localised solar-powered small-scale irrigation systems (PVPs) in poverty reduction, environmental conservation and gender empowerment in developing countries. It suggests that PVPs are able to enhance farmers’ adaptive capacity by raising agricultural productivity and their incomes. They also help mitigate climate change by reducing CO2 emissions. The distribution of the benefits and costs, brought by PVPs, is, however, so uncertain that requires further scrutiny. PVPs are successful in rising energy-water efficiency, but the environmental trade-offs with the underground water depletion and e-wastes requires solutions. Using PVPs to achieve gender equalities may only be materialised if the structural discrimination against women in land ownership and access to resources is challenged, along with the interventions of PVPs in rural communities. This book chapter recommends more in-depth and longitudinal studies to explore the complex and long-term implications of PVPs. More evidence is also needed to assess the effectiveness of governance reforms in access of PVPs in poor communities.
Renewable energy is an alternative solution for water pumping and irrigation for isolated and arid regions. This paper analyzes the irrigation requirements of greenhouse model representative and provides solution by photovoltaic system for irrigation. According to the results of calculations, monthly water consumption varies between 1.02 m ³ and 9.70 m ³ for three products (Tomato, Muskmelon and Watermelon). The proposed technology can fully satisfy these water requirements. Furthermore, this paper discusses the economic analyses for this technology, in comparison with the diesel system. The obtained results indicates that the Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of PV system is acceptable compared to the diesel generator, where LCOE PV = 0.060 $/kWh, LCOE Diesel = 0.260 $/kWh, and the water price for PV system is 6.09 $ and for diesel system is 10.43 $, for daily consumption of 0.33 m ³ . This proves the PV water pumping system is more economical than the diesel system.
This work relates a solution for brackish water treatment by low pressure NF using photovoltaic energy oriented to offer space to agricultural activities in remote areas. The study area was the sub basin Aj of the Panuco River basin, in the RH26 hydrological region of the Chihuahua desert, which was considerate representative of endorheic basins around sampling zone. The raw water had high content of sulfate (1863 mg/l), which mainly demerits its quality. The total dissolved solids (TDS) were 2 195 mg/l. A photovoltaic low pressure nanofiltration treatment was proposed to primarily remove sulfates (divalent oin). The treatment was studied using synthetic and raw water, determining the removal efficiency of TDS and sulfates, the specific energy, the daily production and the viability of its field operation. In the results, the removal efficiency of TDS, the specific energy and the productivity were significantly associated with irradiation, and then linear correlations were obtained for each case. Sulfates and TDS were removed 98.21 and 75.15%, respectively, at equal or higher level of irradiation of 750 W/m(2) and specific energy of 1.94 kWh/m(3). Under field conditions, the permeate productivity was 3.2 m(3)/day, at average insolation of 6.3 peak-sun-hours/day, above PV modules. The continuous operation of the desalination system by users during four months, without specialized assistance, showed feasibility of the proposed solution.
One of the most prominent applications of solar plants is the solar pumping systems that are required in rural areas while it is almost impossible to connect to the utility grid. A solar plant and irrigation system with several control features are designed and implemented in this study. The technical aspects of the study include sizing of a solar plant, feasibility analyses, system planning and implementation, remote monitoring, and remote control issues. The sizing and feasibility analyses are performed by using highly reliable software. The remote monitoring system is implemented with several sensing and communication boards designed by authors, and server-client software. The remote control operation is performed owing to implemented 8-channel relaying device that is reached over GSM networks. Each part of the entire system is implemented and is optimized to provide an observable and controllable solar irrigation system in a county yard. The presented study is aimed to express the potential capabilities of a solar plant in irrigation, and integration capabilities to numerous communication systems such as 3G, GSM, and Wi-Fi to implement remote monitoring and remote control infrastructures.
This report introduces conventional and renewable energy sources for water pumping applications in rural villages by reviewing the technologies and illustrating typical applications. As energy sources for water pumping, the report discusses diesel/gasoline/kerosene engines, grid power supplies, traditional windmills, electrical wind turbines, and PV.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to find some feasible measures to solve the problems faced in China's renewable energy development and promote the industrial development of China's renewable energy.
Design/methodology/approach
– The paper summarises the status and studies the problems of China's renewable energy industrial development, and then puts forward some proposals for the industrial development.
Findings
– The paper finds that most of China's renewable energy technology is still in the transitional period from research and development to industrial production, and that the renewable energy industrial development needs the establishment of a series of technical experiments and demonstration projects to analyze and investigate the resources, the conversion and market development experience, and then form complete sets of equipment design and manufacturing, cultivation and collection of biomass resources and technology development capabilities, and that regulations should be established to provide a solid foundation for the large‐scale development of China's renewable energy. As a result, some development measures are suggested in the paper.
Originality/value
– The paper raises the problems faced in China's renewable energy development, and gives some feasible development measures for the industrial development of China's renewable energy.
Solar collector (photothermal) materials are considered, taking into
account the optical properties-microstructure relationship in
particulate media, solar mirror materials and their use in solar
concentrating collectors, the effect of soiling on solar mirrors and
techniques used to maintain high reflectivity, the emissivity of metals,
fundamental limits to the spectral selectivity of composite materials,
composite film selective absorbers, and corrosion science and its
application to solar thermal energy material problems. Solar storage and
thermochemical materials are discussed, giving attention to thermal
storage in salt-hydrates, a thermodynamic basis for selecting heat
storage materials, the application of reversible chemical reactions to
solar thermal energy systems, and materials science issues encountered
during the development of thermochemical concepts. Solar conversion
(photovoltaic) materials are also examined, and a description is
provided of research and device problems in photovoltaics,
heterojunctions for thin film solar cells, the optimization of solar
conversion devices, and the basic aspects of plasma-deposited amorphous
semiconductor alloys in photovoltaic conversion. The role of crystal
defects in solar materials is studied along with surface and interface
characteristics.
This paper presents the experience of a PV pumping project being carried-out in the South of Morocco since 1997. At present, the project has reached 18 villages, affecting 15 000 people. Total involved photovoltaic power is 46 kWp, and the total volume of pumped water since the installation of the systems approaches 0.7 × 106 m3. About half the PV systems are based on dedicated inverters, while the rest are based on standard frequency drivers. Both perform very similarly in terms of both efficiency and reliability. Wells have been selected to provide good water taste, and pumped water is distributed to all the individual houses. Average daily water consumption in summer varies from 13 to 50 litres per person depending on ease of water access and ‚urban proximity’. The maintenance infrastructure is based on an agreement between the European supplier company and a local NGO, which is in charge of all the local organizations. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
There is scope for utilisation of alternative sources of energy to replace traditional human and animal powered systems, diesel engines and electric motors for water pumping in rural areas. Solar water-pumping systems are suitable for drinking water and minor irrigation applications in areas where cheaper sources of energy are not readily available.
This paper considers the economics of using photovoltaic (PV) technology for developing remote areas. “East Owienat” in Upper Egypt is the chosen region: there, the feasibility of using PV systems for the pumping of ground water in comparison with using diesel units, taking into consideration the different parameters affecting the costs and the present value of both systems, is considered. The study proved that PV-battery systems can be used efficiently for water pumping at East Owienat: the cost of the water unit pumped by PV systems is much less than that pumped using diesel systems, and the water cost is more sensitive to PV cells’ prices than their life-time periods.
In photovoltaic (PV) water pumping design, the accurate prediction of the water flow is a key step for optimized implementation and system robustness. This paper presents a model to characterize the motor-pumps subsystems used in PV pumping installations. The model expresses the water flow output (Q) directly as a function of the electrical power input (P) to the motor-pump, for different total heads. The actual model is developed using the experimental results obtained by the use of several motor-pump subsystems of different types and technologies. This work details the investigations concerning centrifugal and positive displacement motor-pump subsystems. The experimental tests are used to validate the developed model. Based on the motor-pump subsystem model, a method is proposed to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions saved by the use of water pumping facilities powered by a photovoltaic array instead of diesel fuelled generators. This work shows that the dissemination of PV water systems not only improves the living conditions in remote areas, but is also environment friendly.
It is important to supply sufficient good quality water to remote areas to satisfy various needs. Due to the high insolation intensities in Saudi Arabia, solar energy was selected to supply electric power to the equipment used in the desalination plant, i.e. submersible pump, reverse osmosis unit, storage batteries, etc. The plant is now under continuous operation (24 h per day). In this paper, the various pieces of equipment in the PV systems and their primary operation and performance are discussed.
FAO irrigation and drainage paper no. 56. Crop evapotranspiration
- R Allen
- L Pereira
- R Dirk
- S Martin
Allen R, Pereira L, Dirk R, Martin S. FAO irrigation and drainage paper no. 56.
Crop evapotranspiration; 1998.