Hybrid Energy Powered Smart Irrigation System for Smallholder Farmers

水资源短缺已经影响到每一个大陆，这个问题在撒哈拉以南非洲和南亚更为突出。水资源短缺已使发展界注意到必须更有效地利用有限的水资源，特别是在农业方面，以增加作物产量和以可持续的方式实现全球粮食安全。然而，无论现有水资源如何，这一目标都要求增加灌溉面积。获得可持续和具有成本效益的灌溉系统是许多小农维持生计和粮食安全的关键。灌溉系统的运行仍然极具挑战性。在许多发展中国家的许多农村地区仍然没有电网扩展。在没有可靠电力供应的情况下，农民不得不求助于柴油泵系统。这些系统造成高运营成本，往往存在服务缺口，造成温室气体排放，并增加了不生产此类燃料的国家的能源账单。因此，可再生能源选择，特别是太阳能和风能，鉴于其环境优势、低维护和越来越低的投资成本，似乎是太阳能和风能密度高的地区可持续农业的一个非常有前途的解决方案。该项目旨在设计、开发和展示一种由“太阳能和风能”同时驱动的新型“智能灌溉系统”。该技术性价比高，效率高，无运行成本，零排放。这将为小规模农民提供能源，用于灌溉粮食和经济作物，并增加他们的收入。

Water scarcity already affects every continent, and the problem is more prominent in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Water shortages have drawn the attention of the development community to the necessity of achieving more efficient use of limited water resources, especially in agriculture to increase crop production and to achieve global food security in a sustainable way. This target, however, demands an increase in the irrigated area regardless of the water resources available.Access to sustainable and cost-effective irrigation system is key to many small-scale farmers in order to sustain their livelihoods and food security. Running an irrigation system is still extremely challenging. There are still no electricity grid-extension in many rural areas in many developing countries. In the absence of a reliable electricity supply, farmers have to resort to diesel-based pumping systems. These systems create high operating costs, often experience service gaps, contribute to GHG emissions, and contribute to the energy bill in countries that do not produce such fuels. Therefore, renewable energy options, and in particular solar and wind energy, seem a very promising solution for sustainable agriculture in regions with high-solar-insulation and wind energy density, given its environmental advantages, low maintenance and increasingly low investment costs.This project aims to design, develop and demonstrate a novel "smart irrigation system" powered by "solar and wind energy" simultaneously. This technology is cost effective, efficient, with no running cost, and zero emission. This will provide energy access to small-scale farmers for irrigation of food and cash crops, and results in an increase in their earnings.