Carbon Footprint and Cost of Pumping Water Using Photovoltaic and Fossil Energies

The agricultural sector faces economic and environmental challenges in water management in arid or semi-arid regions. Photovoltaic solar energy is a suitable solution for pumping water in such regions, where shallow groundwater is available and the sun's intensity is high. Photovoltaic pumping potentially reduces reliance on conventional energy sources for carbon footprint and high cost-effectiveness. Use of photovoltaic pumping solutions can enhance crop productivity and contribute, to increased irrigated farming profitability in dry land. The present manuscript aims to give an economic evaluation of three different pumping systems based on photovoltaic, diesel, and butane energy sources to compare the pumping cost for water using photovoltaic and fossil energies as common practices by farmers. Based on 17 kW pumping installation, results showed that the PV pumping presents the adequate friendly solution by releasing only 2.1tCO2 per year compared to the thermal pumping relase of 29.3 tCO2/year. The cost of pumping water for both solutions is around, 0.5 and 2 MAD/m3, respectively (1MAD = 0.1 UD$).