Specifications of Photovoltaic Pumping Systems in Agriculture: Sizing, Fuzzy Energy Management and Economic Sensitivity Analysis

By Imene Yahyaoui

Specifications of Photovoltaic Pumping Systems in Agriculture: Sizing, Fuzzy Energy Management and Economic Sensitivity Analysis is the first book of its kind to discuss the physical installation and sizing of PV pumping systems, also providing a successful energy management operation and economic sensitivity analysis.

In order to balance production with consumption, and to improve the lifetime of batteries, Imene Yahyaoui offers a complete study through sensitive analysis of system components and sizing algorithms, providing guidance for efficient energy conversion and management for off-grid systems.

From this single source, readers will be equipped with all the necessary data they need to understand, plan, and implement cost reduced systems.

• Contains practical examples on how to optimize photovoltaic energy to pump water
• Presents case studies on both the physical installation and effective energy management of PV water pump systems
• Provides in-depth economic studies that justify optimization reliability

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Nov 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9780128123140

Imene Yahyaoui

Dr. Imene Yahyaoui obtained her electrical engineering and master degrees in electric conversion and renewable energies from the University of Sfax, Tunisia. She has a PhD in Systems and Process Engineering from the Industrial Engineering School of the University of Valladolid, Spain. She performed her postdoc at the Electric Engineering Department of the Federal University of Espiritu Santo, Brazil. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Electric Engineering Department of the University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M), Spain.

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Prologue

Over the last few decades, photovoltaic energy has become an effective source to produce electricity that will be used either in isolated sites or injected into the grid. In isolated areas in particular, photovoltaic installations are already being used for pumping water for agriculture or human purposes, since photovoltaic installations are easy to install and, after installation, the maintenance cost is low. However, the inherent variability of the sources means that the installation has to be carefully sized, so as to provide an adequate energy management algorithm and to minimize the system cost.

So, this book focuses on the sizing and energy management of an autonomous photovoltaic installation used to pump water for irrigation in an isolated agricultural site. Then, an economic study for photovoltaic systems feasibility for such water pumping plants is detailed in depth and compared with systems that include diesel generator, in three different countries. Typically, photovoltaic installations are widely used in arid and semiarid regions, such as the Maghreb and the South of Europe, where in addition, there is an important availability of solar radiation. The correct operation of these installations is needed, not only to fulfill the water demand, but also to guarantee the optimum use of the photovoltaic energy and extend the life of the system components. These objectives can be ensured by a good sizing of the components and an optimum energy management, which will be detailed in depth in this book.

In fact, the first part of this book deals with a state of the art of the renewable energies sources. More precisely, this part focus on photovoltaic energy use in irrigation and tomatoes irrigation characteristics. The second part of this book is concerned with the system components modeling, in which some of them are experimentally validated. In addition, some techniques related to the maximum photovoltaic power extraction have been studied. Then, the components sizing of the photovoltaic irrigation installation, namely, the photovoltaic panels and the battery bank, are presented in the third chapter. Hence, an algorithm for the optimum sizing of the installation components has been established, based on the crops water requirements, the site climatic characteristics, and the restrictions inherent to the components. Then, the sizing algorithm has been validated using measured data of the target area (Medjez El Beb, Northern Tunisia).

The fourth part of the book deals with the energy management of the photovoltaic irrigation installation. Hence, a fuzzy logic based algorithm has been established, to manage the energy generated by the panels and stored in the battery bank. Fuzzy logic has been used, since it is easy to implement and the present study is based on the user knowledge. The main idea behind the algorithm is as follows: depending on the photovoltaic power generated, the battery depth of discharge, the water level in the reservoir, and the water flux, the connection and disconnection of the components is deduced by using some proposed fuzzy rules. The algorithm efficiency has been firstly evaluated by simulation and validated secondly by experiments, in a plant installed in the laboratory, with satisfactory results. In Chapter 5, Comparative Economic Viability of PV, Diesel, and Grid Connected Plants for Water Pumping: Sensitivity Analysis According to Geographical Parameters, a sensitivity analysis of the water pumping systems costs is detailed: the costs of the systems are compared in three countries: Tunisia, Spain, and Qatar.

Hence, this book presents, in a simplified method, the concept of using photovoltaic/batteries systems in supplying the water pumps, in such a way it gives to the reader, a satisfactory and complete explanation about the components sizing, the energy management, and the economic feasibility of photovoltaic irrigation installations.

Chapter 1

Renewable Energies and Irrigation

Abstract

Renewable energies are positioned as a good solution to fossil fuel depletion. For remote sites, where the grid is not available, renewable energies provide an excellent solution, since the energy sources are abundant (namely, solar radiation and wind). Thus, in this chapter, a state of the art of renewable energies use for water pumping is detailed. Hence, the situation of using renewable energies worldwide, namely, photovoltaic, thermal, wind, wave, hydraulic, and biomass energies, and the different photovoltaic installation architectures is first studied. Then, the renewable energies use for irrigation, tomatoes irrigation specifications and factors, namely, the soil, the climate, and the crops data are explained and detailed in