Scientists have designed a system that combines solar panels, wind turbines and battery storage to operate water pumping systems in Jordan. They simulated it under different scenarios, looking for the optimal size.
Researchers from Isra University in Jordan have studied the feasibility of a water pumping system powered by solar and wind energy. In the Jordanian desert, limited surface water forces communities to rely on underground sources for agricultural irrigation, livestock watering, and residential use. Most standalone water pumping systems (WPS) in the region currently run on combustion engines.
“Determining the feasibility of different hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) scenarios for powering WPS is an important step that could yield significant technical and financial benefits,” the team said. “In addition, no special research has been conducted to evaluate the feasibility of integrating fully hybrid renewable energy systems into the Jordanian WPS in isolated and arid areas of the desert.”
The case study focused on the consumption of the Al-Mudawwara WPS. Al-Mudawwara is a small village in eastern Jordan, near the border with Saudi Arabia. Temperatures range from 4 C to 36.7 C throughout the year, with average monthly solar radiation ranging from 3.79 kWh/m2/day in December to 8.54 kWh/m2/day in June. The average monthly wind speed ranges from 6.29 m/s in October to 9.15 m/s in June.
The WPS currently runs on diesel, with a daily consumption of 40.71 kWh and a peak of 8.48 kW. To evaluate this, a HERS was simulated in the HOMER software under different scenarios. The first scenario included a diesel generator (DG) with a storage battery (SB), the second included PV and SB, the third combined PV, DG and SB, and the fourth included a wind turbine (WT), DG and SB. . In the last scenario, PV, WT and SB were used.
In all scenarios the PV was monocrystalline, 315 W and 19% efficient. The nominal power of the wind turbine was 10,000 W and the batteries had a capacity of 3,000 Ah. The inverter system had a rated power of 5 kW, with a 12.5 kW alternator. The system is optimized to determine the lowest cost per kilowatt hour of energy produced.
The optimal system included 33 solar panels, totaling 10.18 kW, one WT of 10 kW, eight batteries and three inverters.
“The cost of energy (CoE) of this system is $0.241/kWh, the payback period is 6.67 years and the net current cost (NPC) is $59,611. Implementation of the selected scenario led to the elimination of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including carbon dioxide. According to the sensitivity analysis, the nominal discount rate of 6.5% is appropriate for reducing the NPC and CoE. The obtained CoE is within the typical range for the MENA region. Furthermore, the unit CoE produced by HRESs of $0.241/kWh falls within the average range.”
They presented their results in “A feasibility study on combining solar/wind energy to power a water pumping system in Desert/Al-Mudawwara village in Jordan”, which was recently published in Environmental and sustainability indicators.
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