FRESENIUS ENVIRONMENTAL BULLETIN, vol.28, no.11, pp.8189-8198, 2019 (SCI-Expanded)
The main objective of this study is to present techno-economic-environmental feasibility of solar drip irrigation systems for olive cultivation. The water pump has 0.70 m(3)/h flow rate and the total head of 20 m was used to drip irrigation. The hydraulic energy requirement was calculated as 0.2618 kWh to pump 4.812 m(3) water per day to the total height of 20 m. The electrical power and surface area of the photovoltaic (PV) array were calculated as 0.104 kW(p) and 1.793 m(2), respectively. The efficiency of the PV array was determined as 18.97% on monthly average during the irrigation period. Comparing of electric sale price for agricultural irrigation into day periods, the cost of electric generated PV system was found to be 60.2% higher. During the 20 year economic life of solar powered drip irrigation system for 7 months irrigation period, a total of 27693.74 kWh of electricity would be generated. If this amount electricity was generated using coal or natural gas, 22154.99 kgCO(2) and 9692.81 kgCO(2) would be released, respectively.