Irrigation Optimization and Well Pump Monitoring to Reduce Energy and Water Consumption
Save energy and optimize irrigation while maintaining or improving crop yields
AgMonitor Inc.
Recipient
San Mateo, CA
Recipient Location
13th
Senate District
22nd
Assembly District
$2,250,763
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
The project demonstrated on average 13% improvement in energy efficiency (energy savings for the same level of production performance) across a variety of crops and geographies. Project also achieved 9% in water use efficiency improvement (water savings for the same level of yield). If this innovation was implemented successfully across 20% of the farms in California, an estimated annual reduction of more than 66 GWh and 120,000 acre-feet in water use could be achieved. This project also demonstrated that smart meter data can be used to provide daily water records that help with water management on the farm. The project team continues to work with California electric utilities and host on farm workshops to engage new clients. This technology was used to document energy and water savings in the California Department of Food and Agriculture's State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program.
The Issue
Annual electricity used to supply water to farms is estimated to be 10 TWh per year, or about 4% of California's total electricity usage. This usage increases significantly in drought years due to the need to pump water from increasingly deeper wells. In 2014, California growers extracted an estimated additional 5 million acre-feet of groundwater from aquifers to compensate for the lack of surface water and rain, resulting in an additional $454 million of energy costs for water pumping. This usage of groundwater is not sustainable, and resulted in the Governor signing a law (SB1168) to require growers to monitor groundwater extraction.
Project Innovation
This project is demonstrating a software tool that links groundwater extraction with smart meter data to provide growers with automated information on energy and water consumption. This data is augmented by weather data and optional soil moisture data from local sensors to provide information to growers regarding irrigation needs. Use of the software program could help inform growers and reduce irrigation while maintaining or optimizing yield. This technology is being applied over 1,000 acres of farms owned by several growers of alfalfa, tomato, pistachios and almonds.
Project Benefits
Reduced irrigation techniques have not been adopted by growers because of perceived risks associated with lower crop yield and quality, and lack of equipment and labor to measure water consumption. This project is developing a unique software tool for measuring groundwater extraction and water application, by leveraging smart meter data, as well as existing water data in the cloud and at the farm sites. The tool is unique because it uses smartmeter data to measure water volumes from pumps without installing hardware devices on site. The tool also communicates with the farmer and irrigator to optimize crop yields and water applications.
Affordability
Supplying water for on-farm irrigation is an energy intensive task (especially for groundwater pumped from wells) that results in a large expense for growers. This technology could lower electricity costs associated with water pumping for farms. Additionally, optimized irrigation may reduce water use and could increase crop yield. For the affected demonstration farms, this could annually save approximately 400,000 kWh and 1,000 Acre-feet of water, or about $60,000 annually in energy cost.
Environmental Sustainability
Reduction in energy use will result in reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Reduction in water use will lessen the impact on ground water pumping and issues associated with subsidence, especially in the Central Valley.
Key Project Members
Olivier Jerphagnon
Subrecipients
The Regents of the University of California, Santa Barbara
Regents of the University of California, Davis
Visgence Inc.
Aduro Accounting & Consulting, LLC
Integrous
Match Partners
The Regents of the University of California on behalf of the Davis Campus
The Regents of the University of California, Santa Barbara
AgMonitor Inc.
