The Rationale for the Use of Photovoltaic Systems in

Farming

FMPE 601 ADVANCES IN FARM MACHINERY AND POWER ENGINEERING

Course Teachers: Er. Sindhu Bhaskar & Dr. Rajesh A.N.

MOHANASELVAN T
2023-28-002
PhD (FMPE)
 Introduction
• The country's energy needs are met mostly by the usage of fossil fuels
and nearly 70% of electricity is generated from coal based power plants.

• In order to achieve stable sustainable energy in the long-run, significant

progress in renewable energy sectors is needed.

• Favorably, due to India's geographic location, the country is blessed with

abundant renewable energy resources, which has not yet been exploited
completely.

• So the central and state governments of the country have framed various
policies and are providing subsidies to encourage the utilization of solar
photovoltaic systems.
 Necessity for harvesting the renewable resources

• Usage of fossil fuels releasing various toxic gases such as carbon monoxide (CO) Sulphur dioxide
(SO2), selenium (se), mercury (hg), arsenic (as) and dust.

• Causing devastation of earth and surrounding greenery,

• Degrading the land by excavation,

• Resulting in piling of waste and changing the local topography,

• Dislodging the people from their locality due to hollowing of earth,

• Reducing the water quality with increased dissolved particulate suspended solids and heavy
metals, and

• Decreasing air quality

 Solar energy status in India
Radiation potential in India
• According to the IEA report of 2011, India is one of the favored nations of the
Sun as it receives 5,000 trillion kWh of insolation yearly, which is greater
than the annual consumption and a daily global radiation of around 4–7 kW
h/m2 /day.

• A document released by the MNRE reveals that India is having the potential
of producing solar power of 750 GW and the estimate is done based on the
wasteland available in the country
 State wise installed solar
photovoltaic (PV) capacities
as on 29.05.2015 .
 Indian government policies to promote solar energy

• The Government of India is continuously developing, modifying its strategies

and policies to improve the economic growth and handle the global threat of
climate change.

• In this connection, the MNRE was established to encourage production of

renewable energy.

• The MNRE has set up Solar Energy Centre (SEC) in 1982 to develop solar
energy technologies and the related engineering works.

• The MNRE provides 70% subsidy on installation cost of PV power plants in

north-eastern states and 30% for other states.
 Solar energy applications in India

• The solar PV technology which includes the use of solar arrays, which
directly converts solar energy into electricity.

• The relevance of solar PV technology can be categorized into two, which

are stand alone system and utility interactive system.

• Utility interactive system uses a utility grid through a high quality inverter
and uses a backup system in order to make power available during night
time and is commonly used in homes and commercial building.
• Stand alone system doesn’t have a utility grid and uses the energy as it
produces and incorporate a battery, which would help when the sun is not
shining.

• Some common examples of the standalone system include water pumping and
control, solar lighting, commercial refrigerator, and communication systems.
 Solar water pumps

• Pumping out water from wells, rivers, ground, canals is very essential to meet
the basic necessities of human beings like drinking, farming, irrigation etc.

• Solar water pumps are eco-friendly and are an economical solution when
compared to the conventional water pumps as it doesn’t emit any green-house
gases and also reduces the electricity bills to the minimum.

• India has around 18 million grid connected and 7 million diesel pump sets for
irrigation and other purposes.
• Based on the energy storage, solar water pumps are classified into either Battery
coupled or direct driven.

• In India, nearly 35% of solar water pumps are used for drinking water and
remaining 65% for irrigation purposes.

• The output of a solar water pump depends on the amount of solar energy striking
the solar panels, daily water requirement, pumping head, water source, pipe
diameter etc.

• The MNRE has laid down certain technical specifications for submersible and
shallow well surface pumping, for an average daily solar radiation of 7.15 kW
h/m2 .
 Factors affecting the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV)
systems

• A PV cell is a photochemical energy conversion device where the efficiency

denotes the energy conversion factor. (13–25%)

• The efficiency of a solar cell is the ratio of delivered output power to the global
radiation and module area.

• The performance of the PV systems depends on the power output, which is

related to cell characteristics and ambient conditions.
• The output of the solar cell varies with atmospheric conditions like
temperature, dust and soil, wind velocity, humidity etc.

• The PV cell efficiency is inversely proportional to the temperature due to

the band gap properties of silicon, which is due to the inherent

characteristics of the solar cell.

• When temperature increases, the reverse saturation current of the solar

cell increases and thereby reduces the open circuit voltage of the cell.

This reduces the fill factor and the efficiency of the solar cell
Reference
• Manju, S. and Sagar, N. 2017. Progressing towards the
development of sustainable energy: A critical review on the
current status, applications, developmental barriers and
prospects of solar photovoltaic systems in India. Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 70, pp.298-313.