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<p>Agricultural irrigation sustains food production and climate adaptation but intensifies energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Incorporating irrigation into the power grid’s demand-side response presents a promising yet underexplored opportunity for achieving energy and carbon co-benefits during the global energy transition. We develop the Irrigation Scheduling Optimization Model within the grain–water–energy–carbon nexus to align irrigation schedules with renewable-energy intermittency. Using China as a case study, we demonstrate that fine-tuning irrigation schedules reduces emissions by 11.1%–25.8% under current low-renewable penetrated grids and by 16.5%–56.9% as renewables penetration increases, by using up to 92.3% of otherwise curtailed renewable power. A combined strategy of energy transition, irrigation optimization and diesel-to-electricity electrification could achieve ~42.1 MtCO<sub>2</sub>e (92.2%) of greenhouse gas savings by the 2050s, approaching net zero emissions. Efficacy peaks when local renewable shares reach 65%–70%, highlighting crucial spatiotemporal windows. Our study positions agricultural irrigation as a nature-integrated form of virtual energy storage, offering a pathway to enhance grid resilience and support low-carbon climate adaptation.</p>

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Optimizing agricultural irrigation as virtual energy storage to match renewable power profiles unlocks climate benefits during the energy transition

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月16日

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  • Rui Wang,
  • Wenfeng He,
  • Yumiao Xue,
  • Yang Yu,
  • Beibei Liu

摘要

Agricultural irrigation sustains food production and climate adaptation but intensifies energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Incorporating irrigation into the power grid’s demand-side response presents a promising yet underexplored opportunity for achieving energy and carbon co-benefits during the global energy transition. We develop the Irrigation Scheduling Optimization Model within the grain–water–energy–carbon nexus to align irrigation schedules with renewable-energy intermittency. Using China as a case study, we demonstrate that fine-tuning irrigation schedules reduces emissions by 11.1%–25.8% under current low-renewable penetrated grids and by 16.5%–56.9% as renewables penetration increases, by using up to 92.3% of otherwise curtailed renewable power. A combined strategy of energy transition, irrigation optimization and diesel-to-electricity electrification could achieve ~42.1 MtCO2e (92.2%) of greenhouse gas savings by the 2050s, approaching net zero emissions. Efficacy peaks when local renewable shares reach 65%–70%, highlighting crucial spatiotemporal windows. Our study positions agricultural irrigation as a nature-integrated form of virtual energy storage, offering a pathway to enhance grid resilience and support low-carbon climate adaptation.