Economic analysis of a photovoltaic energy system in the activation of hydroponic systems

Abstract

The expected increase in the energy consumption in the coming years could lead to the depletion of energy resources compromising among other sectors the guarantee of food production in Brazil. Therefore, with the need for sustainable production photovoltaic energy is a promising alternative that can be combined with a sustainable form of production that is the hydroponic cultivation. In this sense, this work was developed with the objective of evaluating the economic viability of a photovoltaic energy system in the activation of a hydroponic bench. For this, two hydroponic benches with the same characteristics were considered differing each other for the form of pumping the nutrient solution, one of them maintained in a conventional pumping system connected to the electrical grid and the other with a pumping system activated by photovoltaic energy. From the survey of the mean cost value and the life expectancy of the equipment as well as the hourly cost of the conventional electricity it was possible to determine the total hourly cost of pumping of each system. The results showed that the adoption of the photovoltaic energy system provided an 87.6% reduction in the pumping costs compared to the system when using conventional electricity.