Sustainability Analysis and Scenarios in Groundwater Pumping Systems: A Case Study for Tenerife Island to 2030

Abstract

Groundwater pumping systems using photovoltaic (PV) energy are increasingly being implemented around the world and, to a greater extent, in rural and electrically isolated areas. Over time, the cost of these systems has decreased, providing greater accessibility to freshwater in areas far from urban centers and power grids. This paper proposes a novel sustainability analysis of the groundwater pumping systems in Tenerife Island as an example of a medium-size isolated system, analyzing the current status and the business-as-usual projection to 2030, considering the water reservoirs available and the final use of water. The 2030 projection focused on the PV deployment, evaluation of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), and the availability of the groundwater resource. HOMER software was used to analyze the LCOE, and ArcGIS software was used for the visual modeling of water resources. As a result, the average LCOE for a purely PV installation supplying electricity to a pumping system in Tenerife is 0.2430 €/kWh, but the location and characteristic of each pumping system directly affect the performance and costs, mostly due to the solar availability.