In search of savings, a farmer from Monte Alto, in the Ribeirão Preto region, in the interior of São Paulo, installed a photovoltaic plant on his farm to supply a drip irrigation system using PVC pipes. According to Rafael Santos, business/commercial developer at Asellus, the company responsible for executing the project, the plant has an installed capacity of 54,27 kWp. In total, 162 polycrystalline panels from BYD 335 W and a 40 kW Refusol inverter.
“To connect to the CPFL Paulista distributor network, it was necessary to adapt the input standard to C5, in addition to replacing the property's entire secondary network, which was very obsolete, in order to receive the energy produced by the system. The implementation schedule took approximately 90 days,” said Santos.
“Currently, the plant produces an average of 90 MWh/year, 14% more than the customer’s needs, providing a payback of four years – with a return on investment rate of 30% per year – and an 85% reduction in expenditure with energy. The result is more than expected, because, in addition to having this savings, this energy program offers clean and sustainable energy, which strengthens its brand in the market”, highlighted the executive.
“I am very satisfied with the result, as it helped me a lot with my electricity bill at the end of the month. We spent an average of R$4, today we pay the minimum for each watch. The project has been running for a year now and I am very happy”, highlighted producer Marcelo Quadre.
Santos also highlighted that the photovoltaic system is essential for the farmer, as he uses a lot of energy in times of drought, as he needs to turn on the irrigation system. “The solar plant is important to compensate for the unit’s average consumption. The result of this will be the margin on the product that it sells to the public”.
“He plants, cultivates, harvests, processes the fruits and delivers them to Ceasa or directly to supermarkets. In other words, it will continue to sell at the price it already sells, but it will have a higher profit margin, since the cost of electricity, which represents a lot of the value of the product, will be reduced”, added the business/commercial developer at Asellus.
About the irrigation system
Rafael Santos also gave details about the irrigation process carried out by Quadre. “The client grows citrus fruits using a drip irrigation system, harvests and processes the produce in a warehouse equipped with machines and equipment that selects the fruits, cleans them and polishes them to improve their appearance for later sale in supermarket chains.” According to him, this operation consumed an average of 78 MWh/year at an approximate cost of R$38, considering the subsidized rate for being a rural producer.
