Abstract

A lot of techno-economic analyses have been conducted to seek the most cost-effective solution for irrigation purposes applied in the interval time of 25 years of project life. The possible benefits outlined by the PVWP system implementation have been identified, as well as the effects of the most sensitive parameters, such as installation price, incentives and other credit options such as carbon credit rate or feed in tariff. The output carried out from the simulation shows that PVWP system represents the best solution to provide free carbon and costless electricity to run the water pump for sprinkler irrigation in the agriculture sector in Albania. The environmental benefits have been also addressed, evaluating the CO2 emissions saving achievable from the PVWP system operation and some financial aspects such as simple payback period (SPP), NPV and the carbon footprint reduction per ha. As a conclusion replacement of diesel-powered water pumping used only for irrigation purposes results in an annual net reduction of CO2 emissions by 1.9416 ton per year which is equivalent to 861 litres of gasoline not burned. The net specific GHG reduction results 0.09708 kgCO2/m2, simple payback period results 5.7 year and Net Present Value (NPV) 4961.74€ and by applying a Feed-in tariff 0.0600 €/m³ then the water sale income results 19 817 € for the entire project life of 25 years starting from 2022.