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.

A heavy rainfall is good to wash away most of the dirt and debris but may leave a puddle of muddy debris along the lower edge of the panel. Hence making panel cleaning an essential activity. Also, the site must be looked for moss and weeds that develop along the lower row of cells after rains.

A lot of solar companies offer panel maintenance and cleaning as a part of their contract; however, a better way is to maintain the cleaning in-house. Watch our video on Solar Panel Cleaning Precautions for hassle free maintenance.

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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.

June 21st, 2018:

In just 24 hours I felt like I had learnt something new every 10 minutes. As a Reon representative, I was constantly on the lookout for upgrades and technological enhancements. After all, our technological edge is part of what makes Reon the market leader. It was thus so meaningful to interact with European market leaders such as ABB, SMA who had unveiled their most current products in the pipeline.

The innovative solution I found particularly interesting and possibly applicable to Pakistan was the “Tree System” which is a structure developed for ground mount systems using the concept of tree roots. The best part about the solution is the reduced installation time and the minimal use of machinery to pile erect the structure.

June 22nd, 2018:

The opportunity to be a part of Intersolar had been truly fulfilling. Many of the key learnings and innovations are applicable to Pakistan. Part of our ethos at Reon Energy is to stay a few paces ahead of the market on technology and our presence at Intersolar was one step towards that. Intersolar truly is the present and future platform for the fast-developing innovations in the Sustainable Energy Industry.

Picture Credits:

https://www.intersolar.de/en/news-press/download-resources/picture-database/press-pictures.html

http://www.treesystem.it/news

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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.

Ensuring energy access to this segment will cost roughly 255b PKR (at the country average of 471 kWh per capita consumption*) annually or 2B USD just in terms of generation costs. There will be an added burden to extend the distribution and transmission network to these areas at disproportionately higher costs compared to rest of the country as this segment includes some of the most sparsely populated and difficult to reach terrains.

2) The power system remains structurally nonviable because of high transmission and distribution(T&D) costs and commercial losses are borne by the distribution companies; this is evident in the record levels of circular debt in the system.

3) Heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels creates a huge balance of payments issue for the country and this is the biggest contributor to our trade and fiscal deficits.

4) The grid-connected parts of the country continue to be plagued by power shortages (9GW at its peak in June 2018) that continues to handicap both consumers and industry.

5) Our electricity tariffs are the highest in the region since good customers are bearing the overall costs of all the inefficiencies across generation, transmission, and distribution. Moreover, the recent trend of rising commodity prices such as RFO and coal can cause a further tariff escalation for everyone.

6) Our electricity tariffs don’t reflect the overall cost of externalities from power generation e.g. healthcare and environmental costs of burning fossil fuels. Recent reports from neighboring countries put just the healthcare costs from coal generation between 4.5c – 7.5c per kWh. A study on the health impact of coal-based power generation in the US has found that coal contributes to 4–5 of leading causes of mortality in the US including heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic respiratory diseases.

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In summary, we need more power, at better rates, and at fairer pricing to make it available for everyone in the country. Ensuring this by 2030(SDG7) is crucial to creating a more equitable society as per the new government’s manifesto. In Part II of this blog, I will cover a set of policy choices and solutions that are currently available to us to solve these problems.

* Source: 2014 WB IBRD. Actual per capita consumption is much higher considering a large chunk of overall supply is through self-generation and the 471 kWh number only covers 70% of the population.
^ 70.9% losses 26.71 MTOE of fuel used and 7.78MTOE of electricity received by consumers in 2016/17. Compare that to 62% efficiency of combined cycle plants and standard T&D losses of ~6% in the developed world

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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

Source: Inspired by Joule report on 100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water, and Sunlight All-Sector Energy Road maps for 139 Countries of the World.

Couple that with mostly stable 41 GW of hydel potential to act as storage for peak load, we have more than enough renewable capacity available to serve us for many generations to come.

Commercial case for renewable has never been stronger. Utility-scale tariffs for Wind and Solar have been declining globally`. Latest tariff awards from NEPRA are 4.952c for Wind and 5.2c for Solar projects making them also the cheapest sources available locally. By implementing some of the measures suggested below I believe tariffs closer to the ones in neighboring India(3.74c and 3.3c for Wind and Solar) are achievable.

On a distributed scale, solar power now beats conventional sources by a margin. This has been made possible because of a) Green financing from State Bank that allows businesses and consumers to borrow at sub-commercial rates for up to 10 years b)Increase in price of crude and other imported fuels accentuated by the steep depreciation the USD / PKR exchange rate, and c)Further drop in the price of solar panels due to demand crunch in China and the ongoing trade war with the US.

Distributed Solar vs Conventional Sources

Source: Reon Energy Commercial Team.

So renewable power isn’t just clean and abundant but also the most economical source available both at utility and distributed scale without the health and environmental side effects.

The only argument against Wind and Solar power at utility scale is the intermittency. Firstly, we have more than enough stable power from Hydel and the LNG plants` available to us to balance the grid. Secondly, advanced economies where they’ve had to resolve this issue are at much higher levels of renewable integration (Germany 36.2%, California 30% for 2017) compared to Pakistan at a meager 1%. For Pakistan to reach that level by 2030 will require a minimum of 47 GW* of the renewable installed base as compared to roughly 1 GW in 2017.

The policies and choices of the current govt. will have consequences for generations to come. The first IPP wave in 1994 resulted in expensive Furnace Oil based generation introduced into the system that focused all our investment and resources towards a fuel source with a short shelf life. The fundamental question for the policy makers to answer is “Do we want to repeat mistakes of the past by supporting dead-end technologies OR Do we want to participate meaningfully in the global re-industrialization by developing a renewable industrial base in the country? If the answer is latter then part b focuses on the policies to develop that future.

^Sources: American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy, World Economic Forum Global Energy Architecture Performance Index.

`1.79c Solar tariff achieved by Masdar and EDF for Sakaka Solar Power Project in Saudi Arabia, 1.77c Wind tariff achieved by ENEL in Mexico.

*Source: Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, The demand for electricity in Pakistan is expected to grow 8 fold by 2030 will require 162GW of installed base with the current mix. Actual renewable integration for a 30% contribution could be much higher.

‘Source: World Bank Cost of Air Pollution. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/781521473177013155/pdf/108141-REVISED-Cost-of-PollutionWebCORRECTEDfile.pdf

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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.

3. To ensure we’re buying renewable power at the most economical price point, auction mechanism has to be implemented for Solar and Wind Power with immediate effect starting with hybrid opportunities i.e. combination of Wind, Water, and Solar in Thatta and KPK. The number of Megawatts (MWs) to be auctioned must be in-line with the annual targets set by the govt. This could help decrease the tariffs for Wind and Solar Power further by 15-20% (Based on an average of 40 other countries where auctions have been implemented for renewable power). Taking a lead from The Konya Auction in Turkey (1 GW)* and SECI Auction (10 GW)` in India*, only companies with a high degree of indigenization through local manufacturing and services should be pre-qualified to participate.

4. In order to bring the cost of generation down, govt. should accelerate the development of a wholesale power market in the country. At the same time, the practice of awarding 20+ years PPA at a guaranteed capacity payment should be abolished and a maximum term of 10 years should be introduced under a new power policy. We should be encouraging more entrepreneurs with the appetite to sell power in a wholesale market after the Power Purchase Agreement(PPA) term expires.

5. To cover for the environmental and healthcare costs, the government should make it mandatory for a portion of the revenues from fossil fuel plants including RFO, coal, diesel, etc to be re-invested into clean renewable power and health care especially in rural and off-grid areas in Sindh, KPK, and Baluchistan. For fairness, this should start with areas closer to the mining and power generation projects. Island mini-grids 100% powered by renewable is the most cost-effective and sustainable solution for these largely off-grid communities.

6. For more rooftop solar, govt should promote Community Schemes through reverse auctions facilitated by AEDB and local govts. Under such a scheme, homeowners could participate in auctions conducted by AEDB. Similar schemes in large cities like London have significantly improved solar uptake and has helped reduce costs by 15-20%. To encourage this scheme all govt buildings and community shared structures should be allowed to participate in local auctions.

7. A streamlined net-metering process is critical for taking up of distributed solar. DISCOs must set annual net-metering targets and address a certain percentage of their new demand from distributed solar systems. This should include solar heating to reduce the load on gas.

8. State Bank’s Green Financing Scheme is a wonderful incentive and should be extended to 15 years for IPPs, businesses and residential customers. This will further decrease the immediate operating costs for the customer.

 

9. Energy Storage is incredibly important for making the grid more resilient especially for integrating more renewable power. In light of the ever declining battery prices, govt should offer a special peak tariff to customers who install storage for peak demand shaving. These batteries can be charged by excess renewable power during the day and consumed in the night to curtail peak demand.

10. To avoid idle capacity due to transmission bottlenecks, the transmission sector should be opened up to private investment. The National Transmission Company (NTDC) has the impossible job of connecting every single IPP coming on stream and that’s resulting in a huge amount of underutilized generation capacity in the system.

11. Energy efficiency is the cheapest source of energy. More aggressive targets should be set and enforced at transmission, distribution and consumption end. This can only be achieved through digitization of the grid including smart metering of consumers. Our overall T&D losses of 17.5% are too high compared to Bangladesh at 11.4%. Utilities could also be charged with promoting energy efficiency within their geographical boundaries by promoting more efficient appliances.

12. Finally, consumers should be incentivized to invest in energy efficient appliances through credits, green building codes should be enforced within the construction industry and hybrids and Electric Vehicles(EV) should be promoted to enhance fuel efficiency in the transport sector.

I believe if the above-mentioned policy steps are implemented efficiently, they will help make power available to a wider number of people, lower the overall costs for the whole country and will also make our overall system more sustainable. It will also reduce the load on our already overburdened grid allowing it to serve existing customers better. Moreover, integration of indigenous renewable power from Wind, Water and Solar on an aggressive scale will significantly reduce our import bill and will boost our image in the international community as one of the front-line states in the war against climate change and global warming. ‘More on Bangladesh’ Rural Electrification Board, http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Rural_Electrification_Board *https://www.pv-magazine.com/2017/03/20/turkeys-1-gw-konya-solar-pv-tender-concludes-at-0-0699-per-kwh/ `https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/seci-extends-deadline-for-10-gw-solar-tender-to-november-12/articleshow/66168017.cms

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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.

Do Solar Panels Perform Badly in Winters?

To answer this question, it is important to explain the mechanism on which the solar panels work. Most people believe that a hot sunny day will contribute to a higher energy generation than a cold sunny day. This is certainly not true. The good news is that the panels are powered by light, not heat, so they can easily continue to fuel industries, households, and workplaces irrespective of the increase or decrease in temperature.

Solar panels work on a simple mechanism. They absorb light energy from the sun and convert it into electrical energy. The inverter then converts DC energy to AC energy that can be fed into a grid, or can be used locally. The panels that absorb the sun’s energy are not sensitive to heat. This means that regardless of the temperature being high or low, the panels work equally well. In fact, high temperatures tend to diminish the panel’s capability.

 Blazing summers are harsher on the board and may cause frequent damage to the system. Therefore, cold sunny days are perfect for maximum solar output. However, during darker months, when there is shorter daylight, production of energy is proportionately lesser. Luckily, Pakistan is a country that enjoys adequate sunshine all year round and has a strong potential for solar power generation to meet its energy requirements.

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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.

Factors that determine the size of the Solar PV system

Installing the desirable size of a PV system may be determined by the following factors:

 

Annual Energy Consumption

The size of a solar solution is highly dependent on the load pattern of the industry as well as the sanctioned load. The first step to determine an industry’s annual consumption is by estimating the total kilowatt hours (kWh) of electric usage from the electricity bills. Large scale industries in Pakistan may have varying power consumption; for instance, a cement industry producing 1 million metric tonnes of cement will be consuming 30-40 GWh of power per annum, and these quoted figures are modest. The solar capacity of such a plant may vary from 5-6 MW.

 

Available Space

Businesses may not possess huge acres of idle land or even when they do, they might not be willing to allocate all their space towards solar panel installation. Generally, under ideal conditions, one kilowatt of PV solar will cover an area of 150 square feet approximately. This is where a solar installer’s expertise might come into play as they have the technology and knowledge to maximize the space allocated for solar power generation.

 

Solar Panel Type

The type of solar panel selected also affects the size of the solar solution. A thin film or polycrystalline panel will need a lot more space for producing per kilowatt of energy compared to a monocrystalline panel but will be much cheaper. For a rough idea, monocrystalline panels require 20% lesser space compared to polycrystalline panels for producing the same amount of energy.

Solar System Efficiency

Solar plant efficiency is greater in the regions of Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan as compared to Northern regions (including Azad Kashmir) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Moreover, solar system efficiency may vary with panel placement and shading. It is important for the installer to foresee any concerns that might arise due to dust deposition or shade from nearby buildings and trees before determining the size of the solar solution.

 

Conclusion

While all industries would want their PV system to offset the entire power usage, this may not be practical. A wise decision in selecting the size of the solution would be devising a power production strategy that works on maximizing the yield from solar and keeps in check the factors affecting the system size.

 

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Abdul Rab Shaikh
Sales Engineer, Reon Energy Limited

Intersolar Europe 2019 was held in Munich, Germany from 15th to 17th 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.

Day 1

Sleep deprived and starved, I rushed from Munich International Airport to Messe München just in time for the Intersolar exhibition. On stepping out of the airport, I was met with some cool breeze, enough to wash away my weariness.

I started off my first day exploring the Smart Solar PV Inverters and battery storage solutions. The most common PV inverters are still string and central inverters; however, these are not commercially feasible options for large scale solar solutions. The winner on Day 1 was smart battery storages mostly based on the lithium and zinc ion technologies. These smart storage options came with compact container sized solutions with a battery life of at least 5000 to 6000 cycles and flexibility to get charged from either grid or solar, based on availability.

 

Day 2

If I ever have a least favorite beverage, it must be sparkling water. Sticking with Soda to keep myself hydrated, I spent my second day at the exhibition exploring innovations in the field of PV modules. An interesting development that caught my attention was the Bifacial Solar Modules that can help produce power from both, the front and back, of the module. Such modules are especially ideal for desert regions where fine sand particles create maximum albedo effect and contribute towards an estimated 30% increase in energy generation with a negligible increase in manufacturing cost.

Day 3

If you consider yourself street smart, do try taking the train in Munich. I was lost between U-Bahn and S-Bahn terminologies, making navigation a huge challenge. After spending a good amount of my morning trying to decode the city map, I finally managed to reach the Intersolar exhibition. Here, I discovered smarter Operations and Maintenance (O&M) techniques that included heavy vehicles and remote-controlled robotic cleaners. Another interesting find was the manufacturing of structures based on concrete ballasts without the use of aluminum or galvanized steel. These structures are cost-effective, more reliable and sustainable, especially for harsher rooftops. Moreover, cables can now easily be laid out in open behind the panels that cut down on manhours for digging trenches.

 

Attending the Intersolar Europe 2019 offered a vivid perspective to the solar industry innovations and developments from across the globe. While not all innovations were cost-efficient in the Pakistani scenario, I intend to put better ideas especially for structures and cabling to test. And hopefully, prepare for another visit to attend the Intersolar Europe 2020..

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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.

How Can Microgrids Solve the Problem?

For the majority of the off-grid communities, financial restrictions and operational inefficiencies of the system further amplify the challenge of electrification for Distribution Companies (DISCOS). Rural set-ups with lower electricity demand and lower capacity to pay as opposed to their urban counterparts make urban centers the priority for DISCOS. Moreover, for those rural set-ups connected to the grid, insufficient energy access is widened due to inter-province electricity distribution and rural-urban divide. In such instances, microgrids present a viable alternative to the centralized grid infrastructure. Microgrid enhances energy resilience and recovery, reduces energy costs for customers and businesses as energy is now produced near to the consumer that helps reduce line losses and theft.

 

What is a Solar Microgrid?

A solar microgrid comprises an independent power distribution unit with its own energy generation, storage solution, and demand management system. It is a compressed version of the main electrical grid used to power a smaller geographic area except that it uses solar energy to generate power and supply it to the end user. Solar microgrids can run independently of the main grid; however, in situations where a grid and microgrid co-exist, Solar could be used to provide electricity during peak hours and by charging batteries in periods of lower demand. The grid could be used to support the variable Solar supply.

 

Are There Any Successful Microgrid Models?

The Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB), established in 1977, works with the key objective of extending electricity supply in rural areas. BREB has established 77 Rural Electricity Cooperatives to implement its electrification program and continues to offer financial, technical, management support while monitoring their progress. BREB alongside has also invested in private energy generation projects in selected areas of the country injecting 600MW of electricity in the rural set-up. BREB’s success in enhancing socio-economic development in the country has received immense support from government and donor agencies.

How can it help Pakistan’s Energy Sector?

It is imperative to modernize distribution systems and introduce smarter grids to allow for the decentralization of energy generation and improve efficiency. Alongside, a rural electrification board like the one in Bangladesh must be set-up to help power the 32,000 villages’ in the country without access to the electric grid. There is also a need to develop some level of market liberalization, ownership models, and structural operations that can attract investments in the microgrid set-up. It is equally important to develop a favorable environment for private investors to procure low-cost finance at the right terms and conditions for scaling-up microgrids and to offer incentives in power generation, especially from renewable energy resources.

Certain policy and regulatory changes working with a key objective of last mile connectivity could help create a conducive environment for implementation of microgrids across Pakistan.

Certain policy and regulatory changes working with a key objective of last mile connectivity could help create a conducive environment for implementation of microgrids across Pakistan..

*According to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) State of Industry Report 2016

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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.

What is Quality Control?

Quality control is simply a tool that can assess the quality of a company’s products and services against a predetermined parameter. QC is a vital requirement to build a successful business that is able to fulfil customer demands and expectations.

How can QC Practices benefit providers and consumers?

Implementing effective QC can be beneficial for the consumer in various ways.

  • It encourages quality consciousness
  • It helps increase customer satisfaction
  • It enables effective utilization of resources at all stages of PV deployment

The Stages of Performing QC

The first stage where QC is performed is the conceptual phase. Here, the most important aspect is design verification. The expected output of the PV system is tested through computerized simulations that depict the system’s ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions. Next comes the installation stage where various QC tests are performed including pre dispatch inspections, visual controls, dimensional controls and damage controls. In the final commissioning stage, the PV system is tested for its performance and output. Test runs are carried out to ensure that production has followed the correct procedures and start up time has been saved. This stage of QC continues throughout the lifespan of the system (assuming an O&M contact has been signed) and includes regular monitoring and inspections of the PV site to ensure maximum productivity.

Conclusion

Conclusion

It is essential for a solar EPC company to implement Quality Control at all phases of the solar contract. These quality practices are employed by EPCs and contractors in order to mitigate the risks and costs associated with poor quality. Performing Quality Control checks regularly and systematically with pre-determined specifications that can gauge whether each phase of solar installation fulfils the required standards.

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