IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v377y2025ipas0306261924017999.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Full electric farming with on-field energy replenishment

Author

Listed:
  • Wallander, Edvin
  • Frank, Bobbie
  • Alaküla, Mats
  • Márquez-Fernández, Francisco J.

Abstract

The transition of heavy machinery systems in agriculture is becoming increasingly urgent due to evolving regulations, market volatility in fossil fuels, and the imperative to achieve decarbonization objectives in the sector. Agricultural machinery has recently experienced an increase in automation, resulting in a higher implementation of electric actuators and systems in agricultural machinery. This, combined with the higher energy efficiency of electric powertrains and the potential of local energy generation on farms, makes full electrification of these systems increasingly attractive. In this article, a new model capable of simulating electric non-road heavy machinery systems with a local grid-connected energy management system and two on-field energy replenishment modes: on-field battery exchange and charging, is presented. The model is built as a discrete event simulation, and planning algorithms are implemented to enable agent cooperation and process optimization. Moreover, the model is configured with real-world weather, geographical, and operational data collected from two participating Swedish farms, and two case studies are conducted, simulating full electric field operation on the farms. The results show that it is possible to perform the fieldwork with a process time consumption that is only 5% higher than a diesel-driven machine system baseline while consuming just 37.5% of the energy. The effects of different battery sizes, grid connection power levels, and energy replenishment modes are explored, and the impact on the total process effectiveness and electrical system load is shown. It is concluded that although a battery-based system can reach similar process effectiveness to its diesel counterpart, the batteries in the system must have an alternative use during periods of low farming activity for the system to be economically competitive.

Suggested Citation

  • Wallander, Edvin & Frank, Bobbie & Alaküla, Mats & Márquez-Fernández, Francisco J., 2025. "Full electric farming with on-field energy replenishment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 377(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:377:y:2025:i:pa:s0306261924017999
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124416
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261924017999
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124416?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James Lowenberg‐DeBoer & Karl Behrendt & Melf‐Hinrich Ehlers & Carl Dillon & Andreas Gabriel & Iona Yuelu Huang & Ian Kumwenda & Tyler Mark & Andreas Meyer‐Aurich & Gabor Milics & Kehinde Oluseyi Olag, 2022. "Lessons to be learned in adoption of autonomous equipment for field crops," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(2), pages 848-864, June.
    2. de Toro, A. & Hansson, P. -A., 2004. "Analysis of field machinery performance based on daily soil workability status using discrete event simulation or on average workday probability," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 109-129, January.
    3. Breen, M. & Upton, J. & Murphy, M.D., 2020. "Photovoltaic systems on dairy farms: Financial and renewable multi-objective optimization (FARMOO) analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    4. Abid, Md. Shadman & Ahshan, Razzaqul & Al Abri, Rashid & Al-Badi, Abdullah & Albadi, Mohammed, 2024. "Techno-economic and environmental assessment of renewable energy sources, virtual synchronous generators, and electric vehicle charging stations in microgrids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PA).
    5. Makolo, Peter & Zamora, Ramon & Lie, Tek-Tjing, 2021. "The role of inertia for grid flexibility under high penetration of variable renewables - A review of challenges and solutions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    6. Cui, Jingshi & Wu, Jiaman & Wu, Chenye & Moura, Scott, 2023. "Electric vehicles embedded virtual power plants dispatch mechanism design considering charging efficiencies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).
    7. Bauer, Christian & Hofer, Johannes & Althaus, Hans-Jörg & Del Duce, Andrea & Simons, Andrew, 2015. "The environmental performance of current and future passenger vehicles: Life cycle assessment based on a novel scenario analysis framework," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 871-883.
    8. Lund, Peter D. & Lindgren, Juuso & Mikkola, Jani & Salpakari, Jyri, 2015. "Review of energy system flexibility measures to enable high levels of variable renewable electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 785-807.
    9. Genov, Evgenii & Cauwer, Cedric De & Kriekinge, Gilles Van & Coosemans, Thierry & Messagie, Maarten, 2024. "Forecasting flexibility of charging of electric vehicles: Tree and cluster-based methods," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PA).
    10. Klyve, Øyvind Sommer & Klæboe, Gro & Nygård, Magnus Moe & Marstein, Erik Stensrud, 2023. "Limiting imbalance settlement costs from variable renewable energy sources in the Nordics: Internal balancing vs. balancing market participation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    11. Xue, Jinlin, 2017. "Photovoltaic agriculture - New opportunity for photovoltaic applications in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-9.
    12. Wang, Jianxiao & Zhong, Haiwang & Ma, Ziming & Xia, Qing & Kang, Chongqing, 2017. "Review and prospect of integrated demand response in the multi-energy system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 772-782.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matthew Gough & Sérgio F. Santos & Mohammed Javadi & Rui Castro & João P. S. Catalão, 2020. "Prosumer Flexibility: A Comprehensive State-of-the-Art Review and Scientometric Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-32, May.
    2. Mitridati, Lesia & Kazempour, Jalal & Pinson, Pierre, 2021. "Design and game-Theoretic analysis of community-Based market mechanisms in heat and electricity systems," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    3. Yang, Sheng & Liu, Beilin & Li, Xiaolong & Liu, Zhiqiang & Liu, Yue & Xie, Nan & Ren, Jingzheng, 2023. "Flexibility index for a distributed energy system design optimization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P1).
    4. Hui, Hengyu & Bao, Minglei & Ding, Yi & Song, Yonghua, 2022. "Exploring the integrated flexible region of distributed multi-energy systems with process industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    5. Song, Chenchen & Guo, Zhiling & Liu, Zhengguang & Hongyun, Zhang & Liu, Ran & Zhang, Haoran, 2024. "Application of photovoltaics on different types of land in China: Opportunities, status and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    6. Du, Yimeng & Takeuchi, Kenji, 2019. "Can climate mitigation help the poor? Measuring impacts of the CDM in rural China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 178-197.
    7. Desreveaux, A. & Bouscayrol, A. & Trigui, R. & Hittinger, E. & Castex, E. & Sirbu, G.M., 2023. "Accurate energy consumption for comparison of climate change impact of thermal and electric vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    8. Guo, Yurun & Wang, Shugang & Wang, Jihong & Zhang, Tengfei & Ma, Zhenjun & Jiang, Shuang, 2024. "Key district heating technologies for building energy flexibility: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
    9. Vallianos, Charalampos & Candanedo, José & Athienitis, Andreas, 2023. "Application of a large smart thermostat dataset for model calibration and Model Predictive Control implementation in the residential sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PA).
    10. Bruno Cárdenas & Lawrie Swinfen-Styles & James Rouse & Seamus D. Garvey, 2021. "Short-, Medium-, and Long-Duration Energy Storage in a 100% Renewable Electricity Grid: A UK Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-28, December.
    11. Nikolai Voropai, 2020. "Electric Power System Transformations: A Review of Main Prospects and Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, October.
    12. Kruyt, Bert & Lehning, Michael & Kahl, Annelen, 2017. "Potential contributions of wind power to a stable and highly renewable Swiss power supply," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 1-11.
    13. Wakiyama, Takako & Zusman, Eric, 2021. "The impact of electricity market reform and subnational climate policy on carbon dioxide emissions across the United States: A path analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    14. Jenkins, J.D. & Zhou, Z. & Ponciroli, R. & Vilim, R.B. & Ganda, F. & de Sisternes, F. & Botterud, A., 2018. "The benefits of nuclear flexibility in power system operations with renewable energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 872-884.
    15. Schindele, Stephan & Trommsdorff, Maximilian & Schlaak, Albert & Obergfell, Tabea & Bopp, Georg & Reise, Christian & Braun, Christian & Weselek, Axel & Bauerle, Andrea & Högy, Petra & Goetzberger, Ado, 2020. "Implementation of agrophotovoltaics: Techno-economic analysis of the price-performance ratio and its policy implications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    16. Audoly, Richard & Vogt-Schilb, Adrien & Guivarch, Céline & Pfeiffer, Alexander, 2018. "Pathways toward zero-carbon electricity required for climate stabilization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 884-901.
    17. Shi, Xiao & Pan, Jian & Wang, Hewu & Cai, Hua, 2019. "Battery electric vehicles: What is the minimum range required?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 352-358.
    18. Amaducci, Stefano & Yin, Xinyou & Colauzzi, Michele, 2018. "Agrivoltaic systems to optimise land use for electric energy production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 545-561.
    19. Peng, Yiyang & Li, Guoyuan & Xu, Min & Chen, Anthony, 2024. "Mixed-fleet operation of battery electric bus and hydrogen bus: Considering limited depot size with flexible refueling processes," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    20. Tsoumalis, Georgios I. & Bampos, Zafeirios N. & Biskas, Pandelis N. & Keranidis, Stratos D. & Symeonidis, Polychronis A. & Voulgarakis, Dimitrios K., 2022. "A novel system for providing explicit demand response from domestic natural gas boilers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:377:y:2025:i:pa:s0306261924017999. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.