From the dossier “Solar-powered pumping in agriculture: A guide to system selection and design“, of NSW Farmers Association (with the assistance of Global Sustainable Energy Solutions Pty Ltd. (GSES) and funding from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage), and other material.
Generating electricity on farm using solar Photovoltaic (PV) technology can be an important step towards increasing the resilience and sustainability of your business. Solar PV is scalable. Additional modules can easily be added to systems. Solar technology is proven, well understood and widely adopted across Australia and internationally. On most farms, solar PV can provide cost effectively at least some proportion of energy needs.
Benefits to implementing solar as a source of power for irrigation pumping include:
- Reduced bills for mains electricity and diesel
- Reduced connection and infrastructure costs when new power lines and poles can be avoided if fully replacing mains electricity
- No noise, fumes orfuelling runs if replacing diesel,
- Scalable–additional panels can be added to increase output
- Flexible–solar power can be integrated with mains electricity supply if desired
- Low maintenance.Aside from tracking systems, traditional solar generators have no moving parts and are generally very reliable.
- Protection from rising energy costs. Sunshine is free so generating energy on farm reduces exposure to rising electricity and diesel prices.
Herein a succesful example:
Related subjects:
Center Pivot Irrigation Powered by Solar
The Winegrape Growers Guide to Solar