Comparative study of energy costs in irrigation according to the new brazilian electricity tariff model

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The tariff flags on Brazil came into force in January 2015, applied to all electrical distribution agents of the national interconnected system (SIN) and all final consumers are being charged for this new model. Given this, the cost of electricity in irrigation suffered representative additions involving searches of alternatives, such as the use of diesel engines. This study aimed to analyze the costs and the total annual costs of pumping with diesel and electric operation in 3 regions of Brazil, considering the application of the tariff flags. We concluded that the Southeast region (SE) features an hourly cost of electricity above the Central-West (CO) and the Northeast (NE) regions at any adopted tariff, regardless of the time of pumping and the use of diesel engines in irrigation is feasible in terms of distances from the electrical grid that can range from 2.8 to 72.4 km, the first being the most favorable condition in the Southeast with the operation of 4 months per year with fertirrigation, in conventional tariff and red flag is the less favorable in the Northeast with 10 months/year operation with/without fertirrigation, in bohemia blue and green flag tariff.

Energy consumption reduction of a center-pivot with the use of a variable-frequency drive

“…Short-term solutions require large investments in power generation, and an agile alternative to such a challenge would be the rational use of available forms of energy (Pereira et al, 2013;Coelho et al, 2019). With frequent increases in electricity rates, water pumping has become a large part of the production cost of the irrigated agricultural sector, which makes it necessary to seek methods to reduce these costs (Almeida et al, 2016;Azevedo, 2003;Costa et al, 2017).…”

Influence of sprinkler operational parameters on the cost of conventional sprinkler irrigation systems

“…In this sense, Bertossi et al (2013), state that such analysis is essential for the economic success of an irrigation system. Almeida et al (2016), emphasize that the cost of implementing an irrigation system can be predicted through the analysis of the costs of its components. Frigo et al (2013), stated that sprinklers are one of the main components of a conventional sprinkler system, especially because an irrigation system is designed around the operating characteristics of the sprinklers, which determine the head loss, the diameter of the tubing, and the choice of the pump, impacting the fixed and variable costs of the project.…”