Multidimensional analysis of groundwater pumping for irrigation purposes: economic, energy and environmental characterization for PV power plant integration

Abstract

Nowadays, the agriculture sector presents relevant opportunities to integrate renewable energy sourcesas an alternative solution to mitigate fossil-fuel dependence and decrease emissions. Moreover, thissector demands a detailed review of energy uses and other factors that are addressed as priority issues inmost developed countries. In this framework, groundwater pumping energy requirements for agricultureirrigation emerge as a relevant topic to be improved in terms of power demand. Actually, this demand iscurrently supplied by diesel equipment solutions, with relevant drawbacks such as:ðiÞa large energydependence on fossil fuels for the agricultural sector andðiiÞa lack of participation in reducing CO2emissions.This paper proposes a multidimensional characterization to evaluate photovoltaic (PV) solar energyintegration into groundwater pumping requirements. Alternative solutions are compared under eco-nomic, energy and environmental aspects; thus providing an extensive scenario where the considerableinfluence of multiple factors such as water needs, irrigation area or aquifer depth are explicitlyconsidered. Extensive results based on a real Spanish aquifer and discussion about the solutions are alsoincluded in the paper.