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One of the most important solutions for the climate change crisis is the development of renewable energy sources like photovoltaic energy. This study is conducted to explore the socio economic and environmental impact of using solar powered automated drip irrigation system on drip owners of Faisalabad division. Drip irrigation technology takes into account innovations in the agricultural sector and their acceptance on behalf of farmers due to various factors of its particular adjustment goes back to social, economic and climatic conditions. Solar powered drip irrigation system is a micro irrigation system that saves water (H2O) and nutrients by allowing water to slowly drip to the roots of plants and minimize water evaporation by using indigenous resources like photovoltaic energy. This study focused on powered automated drip irrigation methods that have a significant impact on resource savings like saving in energy, labour cost and less use of water, improve crop yields and farmer profit that help to improve life of the rural areas. A sample of 48 respondents was selected conveniently from the Faisalabad division. Respondents were solar drip adopter. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were applied for data analysis to check the impact of solar drip irrigation on farmer. It was found that majority of solar drip owners are highly agreed to have change in their social status and self-reliance that are 39.58% and 72.92%. Using solar drip systems 79.17% farmers improve their product quality. This indicates that most solar drip owners have high socio-economic and environmental impact. Contribution/Originality:The study explained the designing procedure of PV system for 7.460 kW electric motor installed at automated drip irrigation system. To design PV system, PV array factor of 1.35 is used.Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were applied for data analysis to check the impact of solar powered automated drip irrigation.

The focus of this research is to design a ground-mounted photovoltaic system at optimal tilt angle and interrow space to meet high demand of electrical energy. The Department of Electrical Engineering and Technology, GC University Faisalabad has been considered to perform the simulation test. This study is conducted using Meteonorm software for solar resource assessment. Furthermore, HelioScope software is used for modeling of a ground-mounted photovoltaic system, study of PV system’s performance in terms of annual generation, system losses and performance ratio and analysis of photovoltaic module’s performance, current-voltage and power-voltage curves for different irradiance levels. From SLD, it is seen that 11 strings are connected to each inverter and inverters output power are combined by using 20.0 A circuit interconnects. The performance of photovoltaic systems is impacted by tilt angle and interrow spacing. From simulation results of all cases, it is concluded that the PV system installed at 15° tilt angle with 4 feet interrow spacing are more efficient than the other installed PV systems, because total collector irradiance is maximum (1725.0 kWh/m2) as compared to other tilt angles. At 15° tilt angle, the annual production of photovoltaic system is 2.265 GWh and performance ratio of PV system is 82.0%. It is envisioned that this work will provide the guidance to energy system designers, planners and investors to formulate strategies for the installation of photovoltaic energy systems in Pakistan and all over the world.

This paper presents the results of a field study undertaken all over the Punjab, Pakistan, to evaluate the socio-economic and climatic impact of photovoltaic-operated high-efficiency irrigation systems (HEIS), i.e., drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. Nearly half of the rural population relies on agriculture for a living, and the recent energy crisis has had a negative impact on rural communities. Farmers’ reliance on fossil fuels for the operation of irrigation systems has increased exponentially, resulting in the high costs of agricultural production. Primary data regarding on-farm agriculture and irrigation practices used in this study were collected through an intensive on-farm survey, while secondary data were taken from published reports and statistics. The results of the current investigation show that the installation of PV systems has resulted in the increased adoption of high-efficiency irrigation systems, a reduction in the high operational costs incurred on account of old diesel-powered pumping systems (with an annual saving of 6.6 million liters of diesel), a 100% increase in farmer’s income, a reduction of 17,622 tons of CO2 emissions per annum, and 41% savings in water. The unit cost of PV-powered HEIS was found to be 0.1219 USD/kWh, which was 4% and 66% less than subsidized electricity cost and diesel cost, respectively.

This paper presents the optimal design of a photovoltaic (PV) drip irrigation system. Designing a PV system is based on calculated motor power, solar irradiance level and other meteorological parameters at a certain geographical location. Therefore, a simulation study of the designed PV system were performed by a PVGIS simulation tool. The PVGIS simulation tool analyzes the potential of power generation with optimal PV modules tilt angle and orientation on a monthly and annual basis, and an analysis of the overall shading situation (horizon) as well as the internal shading between the PV module rows. The selection of water pump and motor depends upon the depth of water table and desired discharge and head to operate the irrigation system. Furthermore, a locally developed Solar-Drip Simulation Tool (SoSiT) was used for load and supply optimization. Based on ambient temperature, solar irradiation and water requirements, SoSiT calculates net generation by a PV system and resultant water output of the irrigation system. The particular drip irrigation site has two zones; the maximum water requirement for zone 1 (row crop) is 50,918.40 Liters/day and for zone 2 (orchards) is 56,908.80 L/day. From PVGIS simulation results, the maximum daily energy production of the designed PV system was 6.48 kWh and monthly energy production was 201 kWh in the month of May. SoSiT results showed that the PV system fulfilled the required crop requirement by only using 28% of the potential water supply, and 72% of the potential water supply from a solar-powered pump was not used. This value is high, and it is recommended to grow more or different crops to utilize the fuel-free electricity from the PV system. The unit cost of PV-powered drip irrigation is USD 0.1013/kWh, which is 4.74% and 66.26% lower than the cost of subsidized electricity and diesel, respectively.

Reliability assessment index is one of the main performance indicator for analyzing the impact of distributed energy generation system in the utility distribution system and minimize the costs associated with energy interruptions. In this study, sustainable energy development by using integrated photovoltaic distributed generation (DG) system considering reliability assessment indices and levelized cost of energy are presented. Electrical transient and analysis program simulation software are used for evaluation and assessment of the reliability indices based on the failure rate, average annual power interruption/outage time and repair time. The analytical method are used to evaluate the expected interruption cost (ECOST) of the system. HelioScope software is a photovoltaic simulation tool are used to design and calculate the energy generation (kWh) as well as global horizontal irradiation (kWh/m2) of the photovoltaic system. Experimental test system is a radial distribution network consisting of an 11.0 kV feeder emanating from 132.0 kV distribution grid station Satiana. According to the reliability evaluation and assessment of experimental test system before integration of photovoltaic distributed energy generation, the average service availability index (ASAI) is 0.9648 per unit. Then, the expected energy not supplied (EENS) is 772.0308 MWh per year and ECOST is 386,652,468.18 PKR per year. After integration of Photovoltaic DG, ASAI is 0.9741 per unit, then the EENS is 563.8584 MWh per year and integration ECOST is 227,087,143.39 PKR per year. The results showed that integrated PV DG system improve the reliability of conventional energy distribution systems.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of airborne particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) and its impact on the performance of the photovoltaic (PV) system installed in the Sargodha region, being affected by the crushing activities in the hills. More than 100 stone crushers are operating in this region. Four stations within this region are selected for taking samples during the summer and winter seasons. Glass–fiber papers are used as a collection medium for particulate matter (PM) in a high-volume sampler. The concentration of PM is found above the permissible limit at all selected sites. The chemical composition, concentration, and the formation of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) layers on the surface of the photovoltaic module varies significantly depending on the site’s location and time. The accumulation of PM layers on the PV module surface is one of the operating environmental factors that cause significant reduction in PV system performance. Consequently, it leads to power loss, reduction of service life, and increase in module temperature. For the PV system’s performance analysis, two PV systems are installed at the site, having higher PM concentration. One system is cleaned regularly, while the other remains dusty. The data of both PV systems are measured and compared for 4 months (2 months for the summer season and 2 months for the winter season). It is found that when the level of suspended particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) increases, the energy generation of the dusty PV system (compared to the cleaned one) is reduced by 7.48% in May, 7.342% in June, 10.68% in December, and 8.03% in January. Based on the obtained results, it is recommended that the negative impact of PM on the performance of the PV system should be considered carefully during the decision-making process of setting solar energy generation targets in the regions with a high level of particulate matter.

This paper presents the results of a field study conducted in the Punjab, Pakistan, to evaluate the socio-economic and climatic impact of Photovoltaic (PV) systems installed under government subsidy scheme for operating high efficiency irrigation systems (HEIS) i.e., drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. Agriculture provides livelihood to almost half of the rural population and recent energy crisis in the country has adversely affected the rural communities. Farmer’s dependence on fossil fuels has significantly increased for operating irrigation systems which has resulted in high costs of agriculture production. Government of Punjab has launched a subsidy scheme to install PV systems for operating efficient drip and sprinkler irrigation systems on cost sharing basis. Photovoltaic systems having a capacity of 17.30 megawatt, were installed to operate high efficiency irrigation systems at around twenty thousand acres under this subsidy project, that has resulted in an annual saving of 0.0066 billion liters of diesel. The average capacity of installed PV systems was 9.0 kilowatt, which matched the 7.50 horse power of installed water pumps. On average, the cost of a PV system per acre was calculated to be 0.000142 billion PKR, while the cost per kWp was calculated to be 0.000149 billion PKR. The research results show that the installation of photovoltaic systems has increased the adoption rate of high-efficiency irrigation systems, reduced carbon dioxide emissions, and reduced the high operating costs associated with diesel powered pump systems. The primary data about on-farm agriculture and irrigation practices used in this study were collected through in-depth farmer surveys, while the secondary data information came from reports, official documents and statistics issued by the government.