Category: Basic Energy

Every site is completely different; hence the cleaning frequency varies from one site to the other. The five essential factors that affect the cleaning schedule include your location (how often does it rain?), the nature of business( for instance certain manufacturing units release exhaust making frequent cleaning a necessity), the tilt angle of your panels (steeply tilted panels tend to stay relatively cleaner than horizontal PV arrays), the amount of wind-blown dust and pollen, electric rate (higher electric rate makes it more worthwhile to clean your panels), and the cost to clean your panels.

Solar panels get dirty primarily from wind-blown dust and pollen. A small amount of dirt may cause an output decline of up to 5 percent. However, very dirty panels especially near agricultural lands or in areas that do not get rainfall can cause an output decline greater than 20 percent.

Dayab Hussain
Manager Special Projects

I am excited to share some of my experiences from my visit to Intersolar Europe.

June 20th, 2018:

Intersolar Europe had just commenced at the Messe München exhibition center in Munich Germany. As a solar engineer, the magnanimity of being here at the most cutting-edge showcase of solar innovations and trends was not lost on me. I was brimming with excitement. The opportunity to interact with leading exhibitors from nearly 50 countries was invigorating.

By Mujtaba Khan
Chief Executive Officer, Reon Energy Limited

Goal no.7 of UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDG7) is access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Access to energy is integral to human development in the 21st century. Of the 1.1 billion people on the planet without access to electricity, a clear majority lives in South Asia. Our own country’s power infrastructure continues to be plagued by a myriad of problems that are discussed and debated time and again.

1) Roughly 60 million people remain beyond the reach of the power grid that means they are relying on more primitive methods such as burning hazardous fuels for cooking and other needs.

By Mujtaba Khan
Chief Executive Officer, Reon Energy

I’m writing this blog just a few days after publication of the UN IPCC(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report on the impacts of warming of 1.5 °C and beyond and thus it deserves a mention here. The report extensively covers various mitigating strategies for the wider world to stave off the severest of consequences. While the impact of overshooting 1.5 °C is a severe threat to us, this also presents us with a unique opportunity to participate in the global re-industrialization in a meaningful way. I’ll share detailed findings and implications of the IPCC report in a follow-up blog.

On the domestic front, there’s no doubt that our country is in dire need of an integrated plan to address the energy problems as discussed in Part IUnderstanding Pakistan’s Energy Crisis of my blog. PTI’s energy manifesto had a lot of positives to address these problems including:

• Opening of electricity markets,
• Promoting indigenous resources, and
• Distributed solar based generation for off-grid electrification.

However, I believe that this agenda needs to be bolder and more imaginative so we don’t lose this once in a generation opportunity of leapfrogging to the ranks of more technologically advanced nations in energy management.

Looking at the country rankings in energy efficiency it’s apparent that the most efficient countries are also the ones investing most into sustainable energy. It’s led by the usual suspects i.e. Germany and the rest of the EU, followed by the US, China, and India. While there might be a number of reasons why this is the case, I will argue that it’s primarily based on hard economics. According to one estimate, the economic costs of indoor and outdoor pollution for our neighboring China and India were 10% and 7.69% respectively in 2013. When you take this humongous costs into account, their sizable investments in renewable power (126.6B USD and 10.1B USD for China and India respectively) start to make sense. Any solutions we pursue must take into account the economic costs of burning fossil fuels.

Therefore, I believe that our energy problems can largely be addressed by a two-pronged approach:

• Transitioning all our new generation projects to cheaper and 100% renewable power with at least 30% mix from distributed generation
• Promoting Energy Efficiency across all ends of the value chain from more efficient generation to lower T&D losses and right down to more efficient appliances at the consumer end.

The graph beneath depicts the energy generation round the clock from renewable energy sources primarily Wind, Water, and Solar power (WWS). There’s now widespread acceptance that across the three natural sources of WWS our country has more than enough potential to cover its energy needs e.g. just 1% of Pakistan’s landmass at 7960 sq km can host up to 655 GW of solar capacity and generate 787 TWh of power compared to 85.9 TWh total consumption. So once batteries become cheap everything could be on solar plus batteries including transport. Wind potential in the coastal corridors of Gharo and Jhimpur alone is roughly 50GW.

Clean Electricity 24/7

Now that I’ve laid out the economic and technical argument in favor of renewable power in my last piece, let me highlight some of the key policy measures that if implemented can help the new government to move towards a much more inclusive, efficient and economically viable energy infrastructure.

1. As a first step, we have to start measuring and publishing the proportion of power from renewable sources daily and energy efficiency on a periodic basis like in developed countries. Annual targets could then be set for the integration of more renewable and higher levels of energy efficiency across the board. The govt should also replace generation from less efficient fossil fuel based plants such as those on furnace oil with renewable power as at the current crude price ($85 USD).

2. Priority for the new govt. has to be our 60 million~ off-grid population, it’s mind-boggling that in our 70 odd years of existence, our energy policymakers have largely ignored 30% of the population. The govt should immediately set up a Rural Electrification Board completely separate from the existing power authorities on the lines of REB in neighboring Bangladesh’. This body could setup self-regulating co-operatives in off-grid clusters and implement island mini-grids powered by renewable such as solar, biomass, biogas, etc In more sparsely populated areas, solar and battery hybrid solutions can be made available on easy payment terms to villagers. Aggressive targets leading to a 100% electrification by 2030 is a mandatory goal for a more equitable society.

Solar Energy generation is gradually gaining popularity in Pakistan as more individuals begin to realize the benefits that renewable energy has to offer. But while the concept of meeting energy needs through solar is quite simple, there are various myths around it with the most common being that solar panels cannot perform well in winters. Hence, we shall try to answer one of the most frequently asked questions regarding the performance of solar panels.

How big should a solar plant be? How many solar panels do I need for a 3-acre space? Such questions often arise when industries decide to go solar. However, before jumping to a number, it’s important for businesses to identify their solar plant production goals and understand that the ideal PV system size may vary based on several factors.

Abdul Rab Shaikh
Sales Engineer, Reon Energy Limited

Intersolar Europe 2019 was held in Munich, Germany from 15^th to 17^th May. Intersolar is the largest PV Solar Exhibition in the world that attracts more than 50,000 attendees including manufacturers, project developers, renewable energy experts, and policymakers. This year the event covered various aspects of the Solar PV market and subsequent innovations in the Solar industry.

The IEA (International Energy Agency) survey suggests that more than 20 million Pakistanis have no access to electricity. Besides, another 75 million Pakistanis with access to grids are forced to live without power for an average of 15 hours a day due to severe load shedding. With the country facing an estimated 4,000-5,000 MW of power shortage, according to the Ministry of Water & Power, it does not come as a surprise that households located in off-grid and bad grid areas tend to rely heavily upon gas and diesel gensets to meet their daily energy needs.

In order to increase investor confidence and long-term viability of solar systems, establishing best practices for PV system installations and operations is paramount. This is where the role of Quality Control comes into play. The primary purpose of Quality Control is to ensure that solar installations and maintenance procedures are implemented at the highest possible standards in order to optimize performance and minimize costs.