Farmer irrigates crops with solar power

MALATYA

An apricot producer in the eastern province of Malatya meets the power needs of his agricultural land with the electricity from solar panels he installed three years ago at a cost of 100 Turkish Liras.

While increasing energy costs lead citizens to alternative sources, interest in solar panels is increasing each day.

Yusuf Ziya Şahin, who has been farming in Akçadağ district of Malatya for about 40 years, started to search for alternatives due to the increasing energy costs of the water needs of agricultural lands.

Şahin, a 57-year-old farmer who saw a system that provides solar energy production at a fair he visited during this period, installed a similar system in his apricot garden at a cost of approximately 100 Turkish Liras. Producing about 11.5 kilowatts of energy per hour from solar panels, Şahin can irrigate an area of about 150 acres with the electrical energy he produces on a daily basis, depending on the state of the sun.

Şahin, who noted that they previously met the water needs of agricultural lands with the water they obtained from wells, said that apricot trees are a type of tree that requires a lot of water. For this reason, they were meeting the needs of the trees with boreholes.

“When solar energy systems came to the agenda, we did our research, met with those who installed the system, went to fairs and saw that the system was efficient in agricultural irrigation,” Şahin said.

Stating that they obtained enough energy from the panels installed in the apricot garden, Şahin said that they installed solar panels on the farm three years ago and with 11.5 kilowatts of energy production per hour, the water needs of about 100 trees are met.

“We recommend the system to apricot producers in our region, let them come and see the system, it is efficient in both drip and sprinkler irrigations. It is efficient in barley and wheat irrigation as well, we also irrigate barley and wheat on land of about 30 acres. We were paying 5,000 liras per month to the electricity company, now our money remains in our pockets and the system pays for itself in six to seven years.”