A simple validation methodology for Photovoltaic Systems efficacy in Agriculture applications

摘要

Climate change along with the lack of availability of electricity in agricultural lands have led to increased production costs for farmers. These factors are leading farmers to incorporate the use of new technologies in search of more sustainable solutions for production. In this context, the use of renewable energy, in particular, photovoltaic systems to provide off-grid solutions for agriculture applications has gained relevance. Currently, several programs impulsed by the Chilean government are in place to incentive the use of solar energy for farming applications; However, some of these initiatives lack tools that may allow farmers to validate and assess the efficacy of the proposed solutions. This work is focused on the development of a simple validation method suitable to be used by non-experts to assess the efficacy of solar energy-based solutions for farming applications. The proposed methodology considers taking advantage currently available tools along with collecting and analyzing simple measures over the installed generation system, in order to provide a reasonable assessment of system performance. The proposed method is illustrated on a real installation used to supply power to a watering system for berries. Based on the obtained results, the developed tools seem suitable to be used by non-experts to assess performance and to implement seasonal performance improvements.