Projeto de sistema fotovoltaico para aplicação em estação elevatória na Chapada do Apodi

Abstract

The water resources used in agricultural production in the Chapada do Apodi are transported by pumping water from the Jaguaribe River through a pumping station located in the city of Limoeiro do Norte. This work aims to present a photovoltaic minigeneration project that will supply part of the energy consumption required by the pumps responsible for delivering this water to the crops. With this project, the cost of energy production is expected to be reduced, directly impacting the price of the final product. Thus, in addition to benefiting the consumer, it will also make the local industry more internationally competitive. Brazilian agribusiness, to ensure its competitiveness, has a productive fabric based on agricultural machinery, as well as irrigation systems, automation, among other technological modalities highly dependent on electrical energy, making this sector of the economy responsible for more than one-third of the national demand for electrical energy. The concern of countries about climate change is causing the industry to start using renewable forms of producing electrical energy. One of the adopted alternatives is photovoltaic generation. Within the Ceará scenario, the Chapada do Apodi is a region of strong agricultural production, with companies that compete internationally in the food market. Therefore, the price of the final product depends heavily on energy tariffs, and as mentioned, the global concern about climate change is leading to the development of new ways of producing energy, which also affects the local energy scenario. Photovoltaic generation is a viable alternative from a performance perspective, as solar irradiance at the project site is satisfactory. Thus, from an energy perspective, the generated power will depend only on the efficiency of the photovoltaic cells, since the availability of radiation has high indices throughout the year, compared to the availability of solar radiation in the Brazilian territory.