Coupling irrigation scheduling with solar energy production in a smart irrigation management system

García, Aida Mérida; García, I. Fernández; Poyato, Emilio Camacho; Montesinos, Philippe; Díaz, J.A. Rodríguez

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.12.093

Cited by 105 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Barbarelli, proposed an alternative curve to the curve suggested by Derakshan and Nourbakhsh [33], to obtain the relative head for any given machine, based on 12 pumps tested as turbines. This curve followed Equation (10). Thus, all the relative heads were obtained for every flow demanded downstream Q lm in the scenario l. The value of the head recovered by the PAT H lm was calculated multiplying the relative heads by the BEP head, H BEP .…”

Section: Pat Operating Conditions Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Every Q-H system curve was obtained from the hydraulic model. For the different EPPs, an average of 16 million experimental curves were tested per EPP using Equation (10). Calculating the intersection between every PAT curve and the system curve, the maximum flow allowed to run through each device was obtained in each scenario l. Once these maximum flows were defined, the space of (Q lmPAT , H lmPAT ) for each PAT associated to each scenario l were also defined for each possible value of Q.…”

Section: Pat Operating Conditions Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In pressurized irrigation networks, energy reaches around 40% of the total water costs, and therefore water and energy efficiency cannot be considered independently in agriculture [4]. Several measures have been studied to reduce energy consumption in irrigation networks, such as critical hydrant detection [4], irrigation sectoring [5], the optimization of energy consumption in pumped systems [6][7][8][9], or solar energy production [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Pump-as-Turbine Selection Methodology for Energy Recovery in Irrigation Networks: Minimising the Payback Period

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Morillo

et al. 2019

Water

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In pressurized irrigation networks, energy reaches around 40% of the total water costs. Pump-as-Turbines (PATs) are a cost-effective technology for energy recovery, although they can present low efficiencies when operating outside of the best efficiency point (BEP). Flow fluctuations are very important in on-demand irrigation networks. This makes flow prediction and the selection of the optimal PAT more complex. In this research, an advanced statistical methodology was developed, which predicts the monthly flow fluctuations and the duration of each flow value. This was used to estimate the monthly time for which a PAT would work under BEP conditions and the time for which it would work with lower efficiencies. In addition, the optimal PAT power for each Excess Pressure Point (EPP) studied was determined following the strategy of minimising the PAT investment payback period (PP). The methodology was tested in Sector VII of the right bank of the Bembézar River (BMD), in Southern Spain. Five potential sites for PAT installation were found. The results showed a potential energy recovery of 93.9 MWh and an annual energy index per irrigated surface area of 0.10 MWh year −1 ha −1 . Renewable energy will become increasingly important in the agriculture sector, to reduce both water costs and the contribution to climate change. PATs represent an attractive technology that can help achieve such goals.2 of 20 points of excess pressure. Water networks are commonly sub-optimal in terms of their use of energy and water resources, due to changes in elevation, demand, water pressure and leakage rates across many kilometres of pipelines. Recent research has studied the application of MHP turbines in water supply and wastewater infrastructure to reduce pressure to desired levels and recover energy in the form of electricity [11][12][13][14]. In pressurized irrigation networks, the irrigation devices (drippers, sprinklers) continue to evolve towards greater efficiency in the consumption of water and energy. This results in a lower working pressure requirement in some areas of an irrigation network, triggering the potential for available energy recovery. In addition, due to changes in elevation and demand across a typical irrigation network, areas of excess pressure are unavoidable, unless a network is situated in an area with uniform gradient and demand distribution.The use of pump-as-turbines (PATs) for energy recovery have been shown to be cost-effectivepotentially just 10% of the cost of conventional MHP turbines [15][16][17][18][19] at sites with small power output capacity [20,21]. Nonetheless, PATs have the disadvantage of relatively low efficiency, which can reduce further with large flow fluctuations. It has been shown that the efficiency of the PAT can reduce to approximately 70% of the maximum efficiency when the flow is 20% below the Best Efficiency Point (BEP) flow rate [21]. Different investigations have also analysed the use of PATs in irrigation networks for energy recovery. Nonetheless, the flow fluctuations in the i...

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Section: Pat Operating Conditions Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pat Operating Conditions Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Pump-as-Turbine Selection Methodology for Energy Recovery in Irrigation Networks: Minimising the Payback Period

Chacón

Díaz

Morillo

et al. 2019

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In this study, pumps supply a constant volume flow rate; consequently, the electricity demand by the pump is constant. Other studies [11,30,31] proposed the use of variable speed pump that allows the water supply to adjust as a function of variations of solar radiation allowing to optimize the irrigation regime. A control system which is able to match water supply with solar radiation may help to energy optimization [32], especially in off-grid configurations; however, this alternative is not covered in this study.…”

Section: Electricity Demand Of An Irrigation Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cost-Effective Methodology for Sizing Solar PV Systems for Existing Irrigation Facilities in Chile

et al. 2018

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Abstract:In the last five years, the Chilean Ministries of Agriculture and Energy developed a national strategy to incorporate renewable energies into various economic sectors. Since 2013, more than 1500 off-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, with power ranging from 1 kW to 3 kW, were installed to drive existing irrigation systems in small and medium-sized farms for the exportation of fresh fruit. A net billing regulation was also implemented in 2014. This study shows a cost-effective methodology for the sizing of solar PV systems for existing irrigation facilities in Chile, in an effort to improve the competitiveness of the fresh-fruit industry. The same methodology may also be implemented in other Latin American countries. The article presents the analysis of four projects (two in the Atacama Region, and two in the Maule Region). The baseline situation of the four units was studied, as well as the energy-efficient actions that may be applied, in addition to the recommended characteristics of the selected PV system to drive the irrigation systems of small fresh-fruit farms. Off-grid and on-grid solar PV systems were analyzed, including some particularities of the Chilean regulations. The required water demand of the irrigation systems and their corresponding pressure heads were also determined. The electricity demand of the system was calculated, and the PV system was designed for an optimal irrigation system. Additionally, an economical assessment was made for two years. In the first year, the cost effectiveness of energy-efficient actions was evaluated for the irrigation system, and it was found that they had paybacks of approximately two years. In the second year, the implementation of a PV system in each demonstrative unit was evaluated. The on-grid solar PV system performed better than the off-grid system, with evaluated paybacks of approximately 12 years. Finally, some recommendations for a well-designed on-grid solar PV system were made on the basis of it lasting over 25 years, with an adequate operation and maintenance plan.

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“…Some previous research has already faced this problem without considering the synchronization between the energy available and the energy required by pumping devices [20]. Some other works [21,22] solve this synchronization problem by considering a fixed number of PV panels (and also the available energy). The key difference here with regard to previous approaches is that it has been analyzed as a multi-objective optimization algorithm (minimization of the number of PV panels and energy consumption).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Consumption Optimization in Irrigation Networks Supplied by a Standalone Direct Pumping Photovoltaic System

2018

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Due to the fact that irrigation networks are water and energy hungry and that both resources are scarce, many strategies have been developed to reduce this consumption. Solar energy sources have emerged as a green alternative with lower energy costs and, consequently, lower environmental impacts. In this work, a new methodology is proposed to select a scheduled program for irrigation which minimizes the number of photovoltaic solar panels to be installed and which better fits energy consumption (calculated for discrete potential combinations, assisted by programming software) to available energy obtained by panels without any power conditioning unit. Thus, the irrigation hours available to satisfy the water demands are limited by sunlight, the schedule type of irrigation has to be rigid (rotation predetermined), and the pressure at any node has to be above the minimum pressure required by standards. A case study was undertaken and, after running the software 10 5 times, the best result was an irrigation schedule which satisfied all the requirements, involving the installation of 651 solar panels and energy consumption of 428.74 kWh per day, to deliver water to orchards of different varieties of citrus fruit spread over 167.7 ha.

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Coupling irrigation scheduling with solar energy production in a smart irrigation management system

Cited by 105 publications

References 20 publications

Pump-as-Turbine Selection Methodology for Energy Recovery in Irrigation Networks: Minimising the Payback Period

Pump-as-Turbine Selection Methodology for Energy Recovery in Irrigation Networks: Minimising the Payback Period

A Cost-Effective Methodology for Sizing Solar PV Systems for Existing Irrigation Facilities in Chile

Energy Consumption Optimization in Irrigation Networks Supplied by a Standalone Direct Pumping Photovoltaic System

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