Avocados and mangoes have changed the Axarquía landscape. According to the Junta de Andalucía's statistics service (SIMA), in 2023 Benamargosa had 260 hectares of irrigated mangoes, Cútar 193 of avocados, Canillas de Aceituno 170 and Arenas 161 of mangoes (Benamargosa, Cútar, Canillas de Aceituno, Arenas). All that irrigation needs pumps, and pumps need electricity. The good news: irrigation is one of the loads that fits solar best.
Why irrigation and sunshine go together
- You can irrigate during the day, exactly when the panels produce.
- Water can be stored: pumping water up to a reservoir or tank in the sunny hours is like storing energy, with no battery.
- The loads are large and regular, so the system works many hours a year and pays back faster.
You can see it in village statistics: in Benamargosa and Cútar, more than half of all electricity is used outside homes.
Two ways to do it
1. Direct solar pumping. The panels power the pump through a solar drive, with no grid. When the sun shines the pump runs; when it does not, it stops. It is ideal for filling a reservoir or tank and for fincas where there is no grid, or bringing it in would be expensive.
2. Grid-connected self-consumption. The panels connect to the finca's supply, which keeps its grid connection. The pump uses solar power when available and the grid when needed (at night or on cloudy days). If the finca also has a house, store or cold room, all the energy gets used.
How it is sized
We need three things:
- The pump's power and whether it starts through a variable drive.
- Irrigation hours in each season (summer is the deciding one).
- The volume of water and whether there is a reservoir or tank to buffer it.
From that we work out the number of panels and whether it is worth adjusting the timer to irrigate in the middle of the day.
Do you need a battery?
Almost never. For irrigation, the cheap "battery" is stored water. A battery only makes sense if there are night-time loads that cannot move, such as a cold room or a house.
Village by village
- Benamargosa and Arenas: mangoes in the valley and on the hills.
- Almáchar: irrigated mangoes and dry-farmed raisin vines.
- Cútar, Iznate and Canillas de Aceituno: terraced avocados.
- La Viñuela and Periana: avocados and olives inland.
For farm buildings and businesses see solar panels for businesses.
Want to know what your finca would save? Ask us for a study with your pump's power and irrigation hours. We work in English.