Solar photovoltaic coupled with compressed air energy storage: A novel method for energy saving and high quality sprinkler irrigation

Abstract

The instability of photovoltaic output leads to pressure fluctuations, and the high investment, low water head of traditional energy storage and pressure regulation measures have seriously limited the application of solar powered sprinkler irrigation. This study provides an innovative idea for storing, regulating and utilizing solar energy through compressed air energy storage to meet the energy demand characteristics of sprinkler irrigation systems. A novel CAES-SPV sprinkler irrigation system was developed and its operational effects were evaluated. The results indicates that the CAES-SPV sprinkling system can carry out stable standardized intermittent pulse spraying with solar energy as the only energy source. Spraying starting pressure and pulse spraying duration have a good regulatory effect on the hydraulic performance of sprinkler irrigation. Reasonable selection of energy storage regulation factor and nozzle combination spacing can achieve a spraying uniformity coefficient of 91.5 %. The CAES-SPV sprinkler irrigation system effectively reduces the adverse impact of sprinkler impact on soil infiltration rate. Compared with solar sprinkler irrigation without energy storage, the wet radius increased by 139.5 %, the peak sprinkler irrigation intensity and kinetic energy intensity reduced by 87.9 % and 87.2 %, and the uniformity of sprinkler irrigation increased by 11.7–20.1 %. This study verifies that the dual goals of green energy saving and high-quality sprinkler irrigation can be achieved synchronously by using solar energy coupled with compressed air, and provides a new approach for the efficient joint application of distributed solar energy resources and sprinkler irrigation.

Keywords

• Solar energy
• Compressed air energy storage
• Sprinkler irrigation
• Hydraulic performance