SUNENERGY Operational Group: Water supply using solar photovoltaic energy

Irrigated agriculture is four times more productive than dryland agriculture. However, its viability depends on the efficient and sustainable use of resources, the most important of which are water and energy.

In terms of energy, the plan is to power the pumping station with photovoltaic energy. Currently, there are challenges to using it properly for irrigation, such as the annual variability of irradiance and, above all, its daily variability.

Another problem, not yet adequately resolved, is the influence of cloud cover and how to adapt irrigation to the power available at any given time.

There are therefore various conditions that are intended to be evaluated through a pilot experiment in order to design innovative solutions for harnessing this energy in irrigation.

Advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) allow for precise irrigation management, with knowledge of all the factors involved in irrigation and without uncertainty, ensuring sustainable water use. Synchronizing precision irrigation with available irradiance is part of what will become smart irrigation in the future.