Power Electronics and Control for an off-Grid Agrivoltaic Irrigation System

An agrivoltaic system is one which combines agricultural production with solar energy generation on the same land, providing energy generation coupled with potentially higher crop yields while contributing to more sustainable land use, reduced carbon emissions and increased biodiversity. In many off-grid rural applications, a small microgrid must be implemented to manage generation, storage, and loads. In addition to other functionality, agrivoltaic control systems must implement integrated power and energy management, in addition to asset monitoring and control. In this paper, a prototype Integrated Energy Management and Control System (EMCS) for off-grid agrivoltaics implementations used in irrigation applications is presented, using a test system located in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, South India. The paper considers a novel integrated PV supply and irrigation system load power management design and presents simulation-based tests of the modified MPPT and coupled non-linear digital irrigation control system. Investigation of both DC bus ripple, voltage stability and irrigation system performance under environmental fluctuations are positive. Conclusions and areas for future development are outlined.