Design and Evaluation of a Direct-Solar Pumping System for Automatic Drip Irrigation of Gramineous Forages

With the aim of mitigating the impacts caused by variations in the rainy season that directly affect the production of forage grasses in San Lucas, Michoacán, this work presents the design and evaluation of a direct-solar pumping system for drip irrigation over an area of 0.74 ha. This development considered the meteorological data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory database, as well as the hydraulic characteristics of the plot and the water requirements of the crop, in order to design both the hydraulic infrastructure and the photovoltaic array. The proposal was evaluated using the specialized software, System Advisor Model, resulting in a system capable of supplying a required flow rate of 3.52 lps during the dry season, ensuring continuous drip irrigation operation, without the use of battery banks, from 10:00 AM. to 4:00 PM. The obtained results support the technical and economic feasibility of the system, therefore, its implementation is recommended as a cost-effective and sustainable alternative for local agricultural production.