To save on costs in agriculture, solar energy is used to meet energy demand. Today, the agriculture and irrigation sectors they are already concentrating 25% of photovoltaic solar power plants for self-consumption that arise in Spanish territory.
It should be borne in mind that, even with the sun tax, the fact that more and more solar energy is being used in this sector is encouraging. These data are held by the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF) collected by the National Federation of Irrigation Communities (FENACORE).
More and more solar energy in the agricultural sector
The reason why solar energy is increasingly being developed for the agricultural sector is the rise in the electricity bill. It is a considerable increase in spending on the electricity bill (exponentially increased in the last eight years, reaching a 1000% shoot), It has forced all the irrigators and farmers to look for alternative energies to compensate the more than 300 million euros in extra costs.
Specifically, in the last three years, solar power plants with a total production capacity of close to 25 megawatts have been installed in the Spanish agricultural sector, which will allow irrigators to save up to 60% in electricity once the investment in the plates has been amortized.
In this way, the manufacturing costs of the plates are reduced by up to 80%. They also have aid from European structural funds that allow the creation of state and regional subsidies that cover almost 65% of initial investment costs. Thanks to this, farmers and irrigators can "dare" to bet on renewable energy for self-consumption.
This alternative on water will not only avoid reducing the agricultural extension in smaller farms, but will also increase the efficiency of the pond, since having it covered will keep it at a constant temperature that will minimize evaporation and, therefore, loss of resources to water.