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Can renewable energy technologies improve the management of stressed water resources threatened by climate change? Argentine drylands case study

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Abstract

This work addresses increasing concerns about water management for rural productive activities in the vast dry regions of Latin America by assessing renewable energy technologies (RETs) that could be suitable for localized needs. Forecasted trends in climate change and variability make this analysis very relevant, in an area where very little published work exists. While Argentina is widely known for its fertile pampas, around 75 % of the country consists of dry lands. In addition, erosion is increasing by up to 650,000 hectares each year. The coordinated adoption of a set of actions, including land use planning and strengthening productive activities that guarantee access to water and improve water and soil management is needed. Renewable energies could help towards achieving these aims, if water is made available at affordable costs and with suitable technologies. This paper evaluates experiences with three RETs—photovoltaic pumping from deep wells, small wind turbine pumping, and high-power wind turbines, and discusses a potential role for use in rural Argentina. Although cheaper and more reliable renewable alternatives to energy sources such as diesel could be used for pumping from groundwater resources in isolated locations, limitations arise when pumping head and/or water volume requirements are large or highly seasonal. The cost increases and technical challenges of accessing this deeper water, as indicated by case studies, emphasize the importance of planning and support schemes development.

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Notes

  1. Rio Negro province is included when convenient, as it belongs to the studied river basin, but some large scale features of the agriculture exploitation along valleys cannot be compared and integrated to the rural areas under analysis. Thus, this province is part of the area diagnosis, but it is excluded from the analysis and comparison of agriculture productive units.

  2. Irrigated land in Neuquén is not relevant, comprising only 3.2% of total irrigated area (see Appendix, Table 4).

  3. Indicators considered: Affordability (cost of the technology relative to user income); Efficiency (cost of the services provided); Risk of obsolescence (temporal sustainability of the technology and associated services); Flexibility (ability to satisfy both current and enhanced uses); and Technological capability (compatibility with the services network that supports the technology).

  4. Indicators considered: Suitability and urgency (ability to provide critical services); Effectiveness and efficacy (in relation to society objectives); Resilience (technology effects on human/community resilience); Diversification (contribution of the technology towards a wider range of options); and Environmental protection (impacts associated to the implementation of a technology in a given context).

  5. For further detail of niches assessment for renewable energies see Nadal (2006). The concept of niche is applied to select technology options suitable for poor populations according to their technical capacity and financial feasibility. The study focuses on the assessment and policy formulation for Argentina of solar water heaters and wind energy converters.

  6. See assessment comparing pumping options for Namibia (EmCom 2006).

  7. Peak Watt—unit is used to rate the performance of solar cells, modules, or arrays; maximum nominal output of a photovoltaic device is expressed in watts (Wp) under standardized test conditions, usually 1,000 watts per square meter of sunlight with other conditions, such as temperature specified. The energy captured by the panel is fully transmitted to the pump, if 25% of excess capacity is calculated for dimensioning required panels surface, it is advisable to employ seven panels of 100 Wp instead of six: 570W × 1.25 ≈ 700Wp.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the International Development Research Centre’s Climate Change and Water Program for its generous financial and coordination support, and Erin Palmer for her editorial assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy Economics Institute, Bariloche Foundation, Bariloche, Argentina

    Gustavo Horacio Nadal & Gonzalo Bravo

  2. Environment and Development Program, Bariloche, Argentina

    Leonidas Osvaldo Girardin

  3. Researcher CURE Group Conversion and Rational Use of Energy, Centro Atómico Bariloche, CNEA, Bariloche, Argentina

    Sebastián Gortari

Authors
  1. Gustavo Horacio Nadal
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  2. Gonzalo Bravo
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  3. Leonidas Osvaldo Girardin
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  4. Sebastián Gortari
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gonzalo Bravo.

Appendix

Appendix

In arid and semiarid regions of Argentina, agricultural use of water represents more than 90 % of total water use (Miranda 2009). Average annual water requirements for crop irrigation in the Patagonian oasis are close to 7,000 m3/hectare (assuming a water deficit of 700 mm/year). This is equivalent to the specific water demand per hectare of urban areas with a density of 6,000 inhabitants/km2. This figure stresses the relevance of water requirements for agriculture in relation to those for residential uses and other productive activities. Irrigation water requirements in other dry areas are also high, even for vegetable species adapted to these conditions (e.g. olive) (Searles 2011). Water requirement for animal husbandry is much lower than irrigated agriculture, and explain why the former is the main productive activity in the dry region outside the irrigated valleys (Tables 3, 4, 5).

Table 3 Reference water requirement levels by type of use
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Table 4 Irrigated area by province and irrigation method
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Table 5 Shares of irrigated area by irrigation method and Agricultural Productive Unit (APU) size Catamarca, La Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza and Neuquén provinces
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Surface water supply of smaller rural productive units is still more widespread than groundwater supply (Table 6). However, a significant fraction of small size rural productive units have groundwater supply systems, and consequently depend on pumping. More than 80 % of the rural productive units that use channels for water supply are smaller than 25 hectares. Also, within surface supply, channels are much more common than direct water supply. For medium and large size rural productive units, surface supply is still prevalent but groundwater supply has a higher significance than for smaller rural units (Table 7).

Table 6 Water source and distribution system by APU size (expressed in number of APU)
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Table 7 Number of wells and rural productive units using groundwater by APU size Catamarca, La Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza
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It is also relevant to assess specific improvement measures related with water supply and storage in rural productive units. Table 8 presents this type of data for the region under study.

Table 8 Water supply and storage infrastructure by APU size
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See Table 9 for a description of technologies used for water extraction and supply.

Table 9 Technologies used for water extraction/supply
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Nadal, G.H., Bravo, G., Girardin, L.O. et al. Can renewable energy technologies improve the management of stressed water resources threatened by climate change? Argentine drylands case study. Environ Dev Sustain 15, 1079–1097 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-012-9427-8

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