Economic Analysis of the Using of Traditional Fuel and Solar Energy to Power Irrigation Pumps in Egypt

Water requirements in Egypt are growing due to population rise, improving living standard, and agriculture expansion. Nowadays, the agricultural sector represents the largest amount of the total water consumption in Egypt. In addition, the Egyptian government goal is to reclaim - as much - land in the desert to meet the food needs. In Egypt, most of electric energy depends on diesel powered generators; furthermore, desert areas are far away from the electric grids. These are the current considerable problems to reclaim desert in Egypt. On the other hand, delivering and using diesel is facing different economic and environmental risks due to its raising price as well as air pollution and global warming. Sustainable development is a challenge of Egyptian government; therefore, using solar energy applications can serve the unique needs of Egyptians who inhabit in desert area. One of these applications is the “off-grid solar water pumps” that discharge underground water from deep wells for agricultural uses. In this paper an economic study is presented to compare between using pumping system powered by traditional fossil fuel and another system powered by solar energy generated from PV panels to operate a farm in the desert fringes. The water pumping system is designed to irrigate a farm of 10 feddans. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended to use solar energy in desert reclamation due to its long run efficiency, environment conservation, and lower total life cycle cost.