Pakistan is an agricultural country where 25% of total land area is utilized for cultivation of crops. But this sector is drastically
affected by energy crisis currently worrying the whole world. In current article solar PV technology utilization for sustainable
growth of agriculture sector of Pakistan is presented. Water pumping is major energy consuming operation of agriculture field
that may be shifted to solar energy based electricity. This work elaborates the economic feasibility of PV solar powered water
pump systems, simulated in RETScreen international software developed by Canadian Energy Center for five major agricultural
cities of Pakistan named; Multan, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Rahim-Yar Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan. The weather condition and
geographical information of sites are imported from NASA reported software database. Solar PV water pump system viability is
estimated on the basis of economic determinants like NPV, IRR and payback periods. Simulation outcomes predict that
installation of single 4.48kW DC-solar PV water pump will result into 7-8 MWH electric power savings and 1.2-1.4tCO2
greenhouse gases emission reduction produced due to combustion of fuel for generating base-case electric power. Commercial
implementation of solar PV water pumping technology can be a milestone to figure out energy and economy related agricultural
issues and reducing environmental concerns.
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