How does solar energy reduce costs and increase productivity in agribusiness?

O Brazil is a country recognized for the strength of its agribusiness. It is a major exporter of grains and animal proteins, with extensive areas of farming and animal husbandry. They are businesses that may require a high volume of electrical energy.

Even though it is one of the engines of the national economy, the sector faces several challenges related to energy. In many regions, even in richer states, There is a lack of electricity infrastructure and supply problems compromise agricultural activities.

There are additional challenges in this area, such as the insufficient delivery of electricity by concessionaires, logistics problems in taking diesel to more remote areas, the unavailability of storage locations, among others.

Large plantations, for example, tend to have a series of irrigation pivots, which allow applying the right amount of water and fertilizers to that crop. These pivots require electrical energy. But, in general, the electrical network does not reach the entire crop or there is no energy demand available.

One of the solutions found by producers is to use diesel generators, which end up having a high cost and are often difficult to operate, in addition to not having a correct environmental footprint.

Imagine the complexity of distributing diesel to several generators on an extensive farm in a remote location, for example. This greatly increases the cost of production, which makes the producer less competitive.

The good news is that to solve this problem we have seen an interesting and effective solution with photovoltaic solar power plants. The solution, which Ecori Energia Solar presented at Agrishow, the biggest event in the sector, combines the photovoltaic plant with a generator group, using a controller device.

Solar energy comes in as a primary generation source and uses the generator as a reference for the solar inverter in a completely off-grid system. If we draw a parallel, in homes the rooftop plant is the primary source and the electrical grid acts as a reference for the inverter.

On rural properties, the plant combined with the generator makes it possible to increase the use of electrical energy from the solar source, using the generator both as a reference for the solution and as a backup for days with low energy generation.

This ensures uninterrupted operation of equipment, reduction of diesel consumption and maintenance of agricultural production. It is a cheaper, long-term and sustainable solution for producers, which works for every size of rural property.

O Using solar energy as a primary source of supply gives producers more autonomy, which can increase the productivity of your crops in the same production area, reducing costs.

It also makes a lot of sense associate solar plants with battery storage systems for rural properties, ensuring supply outside photovoltaic production hours or even on cloudy days and 100% solar pumping to power motor pumps in remote locations. This will become more and more recurrent. And the green technology in favor of increased production.

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