A research team from Spain’s CIRCE Technology Center has found that there is no single optimal energy management strategy for photovoltaic-powered irrigation systems.
The scientists explained that the best configuration depends on whether the main objective is to maximize energy self-sufficiency or reduce operating costs.
The study, conducted as part of the European HarvRESt project, examines a real irrigation system installed in a Spanish vineyard. The facility includes a 112 kW photovoltaic system and six irrigation pumps. Using a time-based optimization model over a one-year period, the researchers compared three energy management scenarios: battery storage, hydraulic storage through a water reservoir, and a combination of both technologies.
The original irrigation system used photovoltaic electricity either directly for pumping or exported surplus electricity to the grid through a compensation mechanism. It did not include any electrical or hydraulic storage capacity.
For the analysis, the researchers maintained the existing PV capacity and modeled three alternative configurations: A battery storage system; a reservoir storing water pumped during periods of high solar generation for later irrigation use; and a combined battery and hydraulic storage system. Each scenario was assessed according to two optimization objectives: minimizing electricity imports from the grid and minimizing overall operating costs.
The researchers applied a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model within a model predictive control (MPC) framework to determine optimal energy dispatch on an hourly basis.
The model incorporated PV generation, irrigation pump demand, crop water requirements, storage operation, electricity prices, and compensation values for exported surplus electricity.
Irrigation requirements were calculated using hourly ERA5-Land meteorological data and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery processed through Google Earth Engine. This approach allowed the researchers to dynamically estimate the vineyard’s crop coefficient and hourly water demand.
When the optimization target was reducing electricity imports from the grid, the combined battery and hydraulic storage configuration delivered the best results.
In this scenario, batteries shifted photovoltaic electricity use within the same day, while the reservoir stored pumped water during peak solar production periods for later irrigation. This increased operational flexibility and reduced reliance on grid electricity.
The configuration achieved the largest decrease in electricity imports and nearly eliminated surplus PV electricity exports, maximizing direct solar energy use.
The results changed when the optimization objective focused on reducing operating costs.
In this case, hydraulic storage provided the strongest economic performance. Rather than maximizing self-consumption, the system used pumping flexibility to adapt operation to PV availability, electricity prices, and surplus compensation conditions.
The researchers found that water storage provided the best balance between reducing electricity purchases and maintaining revenue from surplus electricity exports.
The economic advantage of hydraulic storage is linked to several factors. Unlike batteries, reservoirs do not involve additional electrical charging and discharging losses. In addition, the flexibility provided by stored water was sufficient to separate PV generation from irrigation demand, limiting the additional value provided by battery storage in this specific application.
The study also included capex estimates and calculated the simple payback periods of the storage technologies.
Hydraulic storage achieved a payback period of approximately 8.2 years. By contrast, battery storage was not considered economically viable because the additional savings generated were insufficient to offset the investment cost.
The researchers conclude that the optimal storage strategy for photovoltaic irrigation depends on the system’s priorities: combined storage is preferable when maximizing energy independence is the goal, while hydraulic storage provides the strongest economic case.
Their findings were presented in “Energy Management Optimization in Photovoltaic-Powered Irrigation Systems: A Comparative Analysis of Electrical and Natural Storage Strategies”, published in Sustainability.
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