Opportunities for Electricity Demand Management in Irrigated Agriculture

Integrating the agricultural sector into energy demand management incentive programs requires a decision support system for irrigation management – tools to more precisely plan and track water and energy use across the growing season. Balancing on-farm irrigation and energy needs with a dynamic electricity grid is becoming increasingly important to energy users, energy producers and California’s energy infrastructure. For irrigators, this means balancing crop water demand during the season against the cost and timing of energy use. This report will outline linkages between irrigation energy demand and the operational imperatives of the electricity grid. It discusses economic opportunities for on-farm energy conservation and electric load shifting and challenges of demand management programs, including: (i) timing of pumping energy use to take advantage of utility Time of Use (TOU) rates; and (ii) responding to Demand Response (DR) events, specifically farms with limited system capacity. This report will also present an overview of an irrigation planning and management tool designed to facilitate participation in demand management programs.