Feasibility study for a solar power plant to deliver power to autonomous agricultural facilities in hard-to-reach areas

Abstract

An urgent problem of energy supply to remote agro-industrial facilities including those in the regions of Siberia, the Far East and the Arctic zone using renewable energy sources is discussed. Autonomous renewable energy supply systems acquire particular relevance for the agro-industrial complex of remote regions. For such facilities, power outages lead to direct economic losses: disruption of technological cycles, spoilage of products, and death of livestock. The introduction of solar generation allows not only reducing energy costs, but also ensuring the required reliability and quality of electricity for the operation of high-tech electrical equipment: frequency drives of pumps, automated milking units, and climate control systems. The research goal is to substantiate the territorial location and equipment of an autonomous power supply system based on photovoltaic modules. In the course the study, the loads of the facility’s consumers were calculated, the total estimated power of 40 kW was determined, and key equipment was selected: solar modules, a hybrid inverter, an MPPT controller, and an energy storage device. The research is particularly relevant in the context of evaluating the productive efficiency of solar electrical plants in the Arctic zone. The main result of the work is a comprehensive evaluation of the economic efficiency of the project. The estimated payback period of the project determined based on the replacement of the network tariff was 1.3 years. The results obtained indicate a high economic feasibility and practical implementation of the project which can provide the facility with energy autonomy and reduce the environmental burden during operation in remote areas of Siberia, the Far East and the Arctic zone.