Water supply security and clean energy: A project proposal for irrigators in the river Torrox

Water and energy are closely linked and of vital importance for economic and social development in a region, since electricity generation requires water, and water treatment and transportation require electricity. Future predictions show that the situation may worsen with a 35% increase in energy demand and 85% increase in water demand by 2035, hence the importance of studying the relationship between water and energy. On the other hand, the energy consumption of the Agriculture and Fisheries sector in Spain is mainly due to farm machinery and irrigation systems. Although representing 3.5% of final energy consumption, it shows a growth tendency, due largely to the development of irrigation versus rain-fed and the modernization of irrigation systems, which require higher energy consumption than the traditional ones. This study applies the concepts of water conservation, energy conservation and generation of electricity with hydropower. The analysis was applied to study the case of the Irrigation Community of the River Torrox, (Torrox), which is representative of the large-scale irrigation communities in Malaga (Spain) and other similar semi-arid areas with steep terrain.