Memorias de investigación
Artículos en revistas:
Embodied energy and environmental impact of Large-Power Stand-Alone Photovoltaic Irrigation Systems
Año:2018
Áreas de investigación
  • Energía solar,
  • Generación fotovoltaica
Datos
Descripción
A life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used to evaluate the cumulative energy demand and the related environmental impact of three large-power stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) irrigation systems ranging from 40 kWp to 360 kWp. The novelty of this analysis is the large power of these systems as the literature up to now is restricted to modeled PV pumping systems scenarios or small power plants, where the size can be a critical factor for energy and environmental issues. The analysis shows that the yearly embodied energy per unit of PV power ranged from 1306 MJ/kWp to 1199 MJ/kWp depending of the PV generator size. Similarly, the related yearly carbon dioxide impacts ranged from 72.6 to 79.8 kg CO2e/kWp. The production of PV modules accounted for the main portion (about 80%) of the primary energy embodied into the PV irrigation system (PVIS). The outcomes of the study also show an inverse trend of the energy and carbon payback times respect to the PV power size: In fact, energy payback time increased from 1.94, to 5.25 years and carbon payback time ranged from 4.62 to 9.38 years. Also the energy return on investment depends on the PV generator dimension, ranging from 12.9 to 4.8. The environmental impact of the stand-alone PV systems was also expressed in reference to the potential amount of electricity generated during the whole PV life. As expected, the largest PVIS performs the best result, obtaining an emission rate of 45.9 g CO2e per kWh, while the smallest one achieves 124.1 g CO2e per kWh. Finally, the energy and environmental indicators obtained in this study are strongly related to the irrigation needs, which in turn are influenced by other factors as the type of cultivated crops, the weather conditions and the water availability.
Internacional
Si
JCR del ISI
Si
Título de la revista
Energies
ISSN
1996-1073
Factor de impacto JCR
2,262
Información de impacto
Datos JCR del año 2016
Volumen
11
DOI
10.3390/en11082110
Número de revista
8
Desde la página
1
Hasta la página
15
Mes
AGOSTO
Ranking
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Participantes
Grupos de investigación, Departamentos, Centros e Institutos de I+D+i relacionados
  • Creador: Grupo de Investigación: Sistemas Fotovoltaicos
  • Centro o Instituto I+D+i: Instituto de Energía Solar
  • Departamento: Ingeniería Telemática y Electrónica