Renewable-Energy-Powered Automatic Fish Feeder for Nile Tilapia Farming

Fish feeding is a key factor influencing fish growth and farm productivity. However, traditional manual feeding practices often result in uneven food distribution, negatively affecting fish health and pond water quality, as well as causing financial losses. To address some of these challenges, this study was aimed at developing an automatic fish feeder for Nile tilapia farming. However, many aquaculture ponds are located in remote areas with limited access to electricity. While several previous studies have used renewable energy (RE) sources to power automatic fish feeders, they have often failed to comprehensively assess and optimize RE systems, potentially leading to energy insufficiency or system oversizing. To tackle these issues, this study integrates an optimally sized RE system to power an automatic fish feeder, using HOMER Pro software for system optimization. A prototype of the RE-powered automatic fish feeder was developed and tested under practical conditions at a Nile tilapia farm in Chachoengsao province, Thailand. Both feeding efficiency and energy performance indicators were evaluated. Experimental results revealed that the developed fish feeder improved weight gain by approximately 4% and increased the survival rate by 5% compared with traditional manual feeding methods. The levelized cost of energy was calculated as $0.406/kWh. These findings demonstrate that the RE-based automatic fish feeder can help farmers address common challenges such as inconsistent feeding times, overfeeding, or underfeeding, ultimately enhancing the overall efficiency of tilapia farming.