Launch of the HY4RES agricultural pilot plant at Las Catalinas

In September this year, the construction of the agricultural pilot plant for HY4RES was completed at the Las Catalinas farm, located within the Valle Inferior irrigation community in Andalusia, southern Spain. From now on, we have a fully operational pilot site to explore how solar and micro‐hydropower can be integrated to enhance sustainable water and energy management in the agricultural sector.

By combining these two sources, the installation aims to provide a more stable and continuous energy supply than when relying on a single renewable energy source. This renewable energy is primarily used for irrigation pumping. While solar energy is already a well-known practice for powering irrigation systems, the micro‐hydro component is especially interesting: instead of letting hydraulic energy go unused, part of it is recovered and converted into electricity, a concept that fits perfectly with the hybrid system design principles studied in the HY4RES project.

When renewable energy production is insufficient, conventional power sources will cover the remaining demand. Nevertheless, the goal is to maximise renewable energy use and thereby minimise reliance on conventional sources. To measure the different energy contributions, as well as other key variables, the plant is equipped with sensors, a control panel, flow and pressure monitors, and remote telemetry, enabling real‐time logging and analysis of both energy and water flows.

After several months of operation, once sufficient data have been collected, these will be analysed to evaluate the performance of the pilot plant and identify opportunities for further optimization.

Las Catalinas farm

The Las Catalinas farm covers about 200 ha, where mainly potatoes, carrots and peaches are cultivated. The farm is located in a region that is already advanced in solar adoption: the Valle Inferior irrigation community has one of the largest solar plants for irrigation in Spain, with an installed capacity of 6 MWp. Rather than focusing on the whole irrigation community, the HY4RES pilot plant adds a new dimension by testing the combination of solar and micro-hydro energy at the farm scale. In this way, the agricultural sector continues to move toward more sustainable and energy-efficient practices every day.

Future objectives

Over the coming irrigation seasons, the hybrid system’s operation will be monitored, with several key research objectives:

• Assess the share of the farm’s irrigation energy demand that can be covered by the hybrid system. When solar and micro-hydro generation cannot fully meet irrigation needs, evaluate whether irrigation schedules can be adjusted to maximise self-consumption.
• Use the collected data to train predictive models (based on Big Data / AI) that forecast energy production and irrigation demand, helping to better align energy consumption with irrigation requirements.
• Conduct a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment, evaluate costs and payback periods, and identify operational constraints (e.g. intermittency of the renewable sources), to determine under which farm characteristics this approach becomes most effective.
• Share the results of this pilot plant to support replication on other farms, both within the Valle Inferior irrigation network and in other networks in the area. The goal is for the Las Catalinas farm to become a demonstration site: if it performs well here, it can serve as an example for other regions aiming to integrate renewable energy sources for irrigation.

Updates and results on the performance of this agricultural pilot plant will be shared in the coming months, aiming to encourage broader adoption of renewable energy solutions across the agricultural sector.