SOLAR BASED IRRIGATION SYSTEM

CREDIT SEMINAR
BY
MOHAMED A. ORABI
10405
Seminar Outlines

• Introduction
• Why SBIS ?
• How it works
• Requirements
• SBIS Modules
• Advantages and disadvantages
• Case studies
• Conclusions
 Introduction
• Sustainable agriculture is central to achieving
several of the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) from poverty alleviation to food
security to livelihood security (UN General Assembly,
2015).

• Most of the future growth in agriculture is

likely to come from intensification, in which
irrigation would play a key role (FAO, 2011).
• Only 20 % of the global cultivated land is
currently irrigated and there is a need to
significantly expand the irrigation cover. To
meet the rising food demand (FAO, 2011).
• 56 % Of the global irrigated land requires
energy and the share is increasing, with
corresponding rise in GHG emissions (FAO & GIZ,
2015).
• Provision of energy to ensure access to
irrigation in a sustainable and resource
efficient manner has become a global
challenge.
• Particularly in the context of climate change
which induced variations in precipitation and
temperature are likely to adversely affect
agriculture and the impact would be high on
poor farmers in developing countries, who are
already food insecure (Nelson et al., 2009).
• In India, only 46 per cent of the cultivated land
is irrigated (Ministry of Agricutlure, 2014).
• With more than 19 million agriculture
electricity connections, irrigation accounts for
more than a fifth of the country’s total power
sales (CEA, 2014; Planning Commission, 2014).
• On account of unavailability of electricity
connection or inadequacy of power supply,
more than 9 million diesel pumps are also
being used for irrigation.
• Which are hazardous to human health and
the environment (Agrawal & Jain, 2015; Raghavan et al.,
2010).
• Millions of farmers continue to lack access to
irrigation, particularly in the eastern region of
the country, where farming is predominantly
rain dependent.
• Provision of affordable and sustainable irrigation
services, is becoming a pressing concern in India
and elsewhere.
• In this backdrop, solar pumps or solar powered
irrigation systems (SPIS) are emerging as an
alternative to conventional irrigation solutions
such as electricity or diesel powered pumps.
•Energy of pumps used for the agricultural
irrigation is generally provided from electrical
energy or mainly from fossil fuels.
Fossil
Foil
Decline
High
Prices
Hazards to
environment
Alternative
The supply of
Energy electricity is not
reached up to
every villages.
 Why Solar Energy?
• Solar energy that is
The most abundant source of energy in the world.
Sensitive to environment and Green way for
energy production.
 Clean energy .
Requiring no maintenance.
Provides free energy after an initial investment is
made.
 Solar based irrigation system
A suitable alternative for farmers in the
present state of energy crisis in the world.
Is an alternative renewable energy source
especially for countries like India having a
high amount of annual solar irradiation rate.
System Component

Block Diagram of Automatic Solar Submersible Pump Control for Irrigation

Agrawal et. al. 2015
How the system works?
This system mainly consists of two modules-
 Solar pumping module.
 Automatic irrigation module.

I. Solar pumping module:

Solar Panel:
Photons: Miniscule particles, which radiate from the sun,
makes the sun light.
As these hit the silicon atoms of the solar cell, they
transfer their energy to loose electrons.

This involves creating an electrical imbalance within the

cell, which acts a bit like a slope down which the electrons
will flow in the same direction.
The separation of charges
is then used to charge a
battery using a control
circuit.
Battery stores the charge.
Then by using a Converter
circuit it gives power to
the water pump which is
submerged inside the well.
Then the water is pumped
into an overhead tank for
storing water temporarily
before releasing the water
into the field.
II. Irrigation module:
A moisture sensor to sense the level of
moisture content present in the soil.
It has a level detection module in which
we can set a reference value.
With the help of moisture sensor signaling
a controller.
Control pulse is given to the driver circuit that excites the
motor.
So the pump starts working and moves water to the irrigation
field as per the soil moisture content.
When the soil moisture content reaches the required value, the
motor is stopped and power to driver circuit is stopped and
controller is put into sleep mode for low power consumption.
When the moisture in soil is dried and reaches a minimum cut-
off value, the controller comes out of sleep mode and flow of
water is regulated.
This way the whole system works automatically.
(AGRAWAL and JAIN, 2016)
(AGRAWAL and JAIN, 2016)
Prediction of requirement
 Suppose we have to run 2HP motor for irrigation. For that the
energy required is:
2HP=1.5 Kw.
:. 1.5 Kw=1500 watt
Power=volt*current
V=240 v
So, current(I)=1500/240
=6.25 A.
 Requirement for rechargeable batteries of 120V:
Power=volt*current
1500= N*volt*current (N=number of require batteries)
1500=N*240*6.25
:. N=2. (2 batteries are required)
( BHOLE and CHAUDHARI, 2016)
 Requirement for solar panels:
1 solar panel of 72 cells generates 200watts
Required power is 1500 watts.
: .1500/200=7.5
Nearly 8 solar panels are required
 Cost Calculation:
Components Unit Cost Quantity Total Cost

Solar Panel 24,000 8 192,000

(72 cells)

Water pump 15,000 1 15,000

Battery(120 v) 20,000 2 40,000
Converter Circuit 1000 1 1000
Overall Cost 2,48,000
by the Tops field Renewable Energy Committee 2017
Subsidy information:

This information should be given by farmers to avail subsidy

by government:
 Depth of water in feet. (average water level in well/bore-
well throughout year)
 Area under irrigation. (Vigha /hectares)
 Type of irrigation facility. (Drip Irrigation/Sprinklers
Irrigation/ flood irrigation)
Farmers frequent questions
Is solar pumping right for my farm? If so, which
configuration is likely to be most suitable?

• To help you decide whether solar pumping is a

technically feasible and financially viable
option for your farm, consider the following
questions:
• Are your current pumps suitable? Diesel
pumps incurring extra costs day by day.
However, there are good opportunities to
integrate solar with diesel generators.
 What is the cost of operating your
existing pumps?
• Solar power has high up-front costs but low
operating costs. A solar PV system can result in
significant savings over the life of the system.
Integrating solar with your existing power
supply can substantially reduce operating
costs.
How far from the electricity grid is the
proposed pump site?
• Solar can be used to power pumps that are far
from the grid. Such solar pumps can transfer
water to locations near the electricity grid for
grid-powered pumping.
• How often is the pump used?
Solar pumping suits applications requiring
regular operation. It may be more economical to
employ mobile fuel generators for pumps that
are used for only a couple of periods a year.
• At what time of day do you need water?
A solar PV system powers pumps only during
daylight hours. For applications that require
water at night or on-demand, consider
combining solar with water or battery storage. It
may also be more economical to use a different
pump technology.
• Is there existing water storage?
Solar pumps are well suited to pumping water to
some form of water storage (such as a dam or
tank) where it can be used when needed.

• Will the water be pressurised?

Pressurised systems require consistent energy
sources. Combining solar with battery power
could provide this otherwise integration with
other power will be necessary.
• How much water must be pumped?
Solar can provide power for large volumes of
water; however, with such applications, it may
be more economical to install solar to reduce
the size of the main energy source rather than
as your sole power source.
Advantages:
 It helps in saving Energy.
 There is no fuel cost - as it uses available free sun light.
 No electricity required.
 Can be operated lifelong.
 It works everywhere.
 It is also useful for clean, drinking water sanitation and
also irrigation.
 The dependence on rain is reduced.
 It creates wealth for farmers by increasing no of crops.
Disadvantages:

 High initial cost.

 Non-working at night.
 Solar Panel Inefficiency. (A solar panel
can convert < 22% of the energy it gets
from the sun into electrical energy).
 Bulky solar panels are required for the
large power production.
Case Study I
• This paper proposes a model of variable rate
automatic microcontroller based irrigation system.
Solar power is used as the source of power to control
the overall system.

• Sensors are placed on the paddy field and these

sensors continuously sense the water level and give
the message to the farmer informing the water level.

• Without visiting the paddy fields, farmers can get the

information about the water level.
• Based on the water level, a farmer can control
the motor by sending a message from his
cellular phone even from a remote place.

• If the water level reaches to the danger level;

the motor will automatically start without
confirmation of farmer to ensure the proper
water level in the site.
Proposed Sensor with two metal plates
Irrigation water pump
A complete implementation of proposed model
• In this paper, an automated solar irrigation model is
proposed and successfully implemented using
different circuits .

• They designed and implemented this model

considering low cost, reliability, alternate source of
electric power and automatic control.

• The model always ensures the sufficient level of

water in the paddy field avoiding the under-irrigation
and over-irrigation.
• Farmers can remotely ON/OFF the motor by using
cell phone even from away. The system is secured
with password for the restricted number of users.

• Solar power provides sufficient amount of power to

drive the system to overcome the necessity of
electricity and ease the irrigation system for our
farmers, the propose model can be a suitable
alternative.
 Case study – II
Implementation of Solar Based Irrigation System

SOLAR POWERED IRRIGATION

SYSTEMS – COUNTRY CASE STUDY
LALPURA
India – Bihar - Vaishali
 Conclusion

 SBIS/ SPIS system an easy to implement

and environment friendly solution for
irrigating fields.
 Found successful for bore holes as they can
pump over the whole day.
 Minimal maintenance, manual interaction
and attention as they are self-starting.
 In long run this system is economical.
 Conclusion

The government is subsidising, and that

should be increased to save both the energy
and the environment.
The extension should take the role of
awareness and diffusion such initiatives
among the local farmers.
Encouragement of such innovations is highly
required to face the climate change scenario.
Thank You!