Solar panel Archives - Page 4 of 4

Solar/Wind Hybrid Systems

June 28, 2012 jrobinson

A hybrid renewable energy system utilizes two or more energy production methods, usually solar and wind power. The major advantage of solar / wind hybrid system is that when solar and wind power production are used together, the reliability of the system is enhanced. Additionally, the size of battery storage can be reduced slightly as there is less reliance on one method of power production. Often, when there is no sun, there is plenty of wind. In comparison to solar modules, wind turbines can offer a more favourable dollar per watt ratio.

You want to consider a hybrid system when you

Install Owl Electricity Monitors For Efficient Energy Consumption

May 24, 2012 jrobinson

Brandon Virgo, energy audit manager, Solarbuzz Jamaica, shows us the statistics capabilities of the software that accompanies the Owl Electricity Monitor. - Photos by Gladstone Taylor/Photographer

You monitor your electricity consumption daily, yet your electricity bill continues to climb unabated. Perhaps you have tried extreme cost-cutting measures, but the frustration continues to mount. Your electricity bill is just too high!

Solarbuzz Jamaica can help you achieve a desired level of energy efficiency. They recommend installing an Owl Electricity Monitor in your home or business which allows you to see and monitor your energy consumption. The monitor is plugged into your breaker panel and shows you how much energy each appliance in your home or business is using.

For a one-time charge of $24,000 (including installation and GCT), within the first month, you are able to see at least a 20-30 per cent decrease in your electricity consumption. According to Jason Robinson, chief executive officer of Solarbuzz Jamaica, people who have installed the product become more conscious of the energy usage of each appliance and begin to cut back on their energy cost.

Monitor usage

“For each day of the week, you can monitor how the energy is used. The monitor can be connected to a computer, which can help you to analyse the data. By analysing the data, persons can see what is costing them the most and make changes,” Robinson said.

Jason Robinson, CEO of Solarbuzz Jamaica, explains how the OWL Electricity Monitor works. - Gladstone Taylor/Photographer

The company, which is focused primarily on providing solar energy, recommends that people try to cut back on energy consumption before making the bold step to install solar-energy panels. Robinson said, initially, energy usage in the home or business must be determined, and whether a solar panel can be installed at the facility.

“Depending on how much usage is accumulated per day, we can determine the size of the system. Once we know the energy usage, we can start putting together the equipment – including the panels, inverters, electrical – and the labour cost,” Robinson said.

Solar systems can range from $800,000 to $1.5 million for a small house, and depending on the energy usage, can also range from $4 million to $5 million. There is a 25-year warranty on the panels, and the other components can last up to 12 years. A minimum maintenance fee is charged each year.

Robinson also recommends that people have their electrical breakers analysed and cleaned regularly – at least once per year. He said energy can be lost when the breaker panel is not efficient.

“The breaker panel is like the engine of the home or business. It needs to be maintained. We label each panel for persons to know where each breaker is connected, so in case of an emergency, they will know which area in the house they are turning off,” Robinson said.

He said to add a solar system or even the Owl Energy Monitor, the breaker panel must be cleaned. Some, he said, were not installed properly, while others are crammed and become hard to service or clear. He added that many breaker panels are overloaded and that causes it to ‘trip’ out all the time.

Solarbuzz Jamaica also provides wind power solutions. They also install anemometers and let their clients know if the wind speed is sufficient for a wind turbine to be installed.

The company also installs pool and pond energy solutions that use up to 80 or 90 per cent less energy. The costs vary, but can go up to US$2,000 (J$174,000).

Contact Solarbuzz at

News

Putting legs under renewable energy in Jamaica

April 27, 2012 jrobinson

Let’s get serious about reducing Jamaica’s dependency on oil. Photovoltaics (the use of solar panels to create electricity) is one way to go at this time but there are simple things we must and can do before we get there. Solar water heaters, LED bulbs and inverter refrigerators would have a positive effect on the national economy.

For instance, if 50,000 homes used 2000 watt electric heaters (about a 20 gallon system) for 90 minutes per day for 5 years, the electricity consumed in five years would be about 270-million kilowatts (approx. J$10 billion in electricity costs) and this would require about 370,000 barrels of oil (about J$3.3billion) to produce – or about one and one-half barrels of oil per household per year. Oil costs about US$100 per barrel these days and a 40 gallon solar water heater costs about J$95,000 which paints a clear picture.

Solar panels, a possible way for Jamaica to reduce its energy bill.

The electric heater used in this example would cost you about J$3,600 each month to run and so, depending on the cost of money, repayment would be about 3 to 4 years.

Whenever a country reduces its “carbon footprint” i.e. reduces the amount of carbon dioxide it generates by burning oil the resultant savings may be a saleable commodity. If that country’s emissions fall below a set quota the unused amount can be sold as carbon credits which can be purchased, privately or on the open market, by entities whose operation generate in excess of their own allotment.

Solar water heaters

All of this is by international convention. My scenario of 50,000 homes replacing electric water heaters with solar water heaters would, over five years reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by about 310,000 tons and this could potentially be sold for about J$540 million.

Imagine if the Government came up with a J$4 billion programme to supply and install 50,000 solar water heaters to replace electric heaters. The reduced oil bill plus carbon credit sales would accrue to about J$3.8 billion to the nation over five years. That is not the end of it. There would be the benefit of job creation (for installation) and taxation of income from the workers involved. It would seem that the short pay-back time for this programme is deserving of consideration.

The Government is aware of the advantages in promoting the use of solar water heaters and the NHT has a very commendable programme of lending up to J$250,000 for 5 years at 3 per cent provided there is a title for the property and the borrower is a current contributor. For the solar water used in this scenario the monthly payment would be less than the savings on the electricity bill! So there is every reason to take advantage of this facility for personal and national reasons. Due to the national advantage, however, the NHT should perhaps consider lending to others and not only current contributors.

LED bulbs

|LED bulbs are currently the most efficient bulbs on the market today. A 5-watt LED bulb is equivalent to a 16W fluorescent bulb (CFL) or a 70W incandescent light. A household using ten 5W LEDs for an average of five hours per day will incur a monthly “light” bill of about J$300 per month for these bulbs. (Fluorescent bulbs to provide the same lighting would cost about J$900 per month.) If this were applied to 50,000 households over five years the LEDs compared with CFLs would save J$600 milllion of oil imports and allow some J$100 million in carbon credit. The five hundred thousand 5W bulbs would cost about J$550 million and each bulb should last for over ten years. This could likely be a feasible project for Government funding. Yes, there was a light bulb scandal before but this does not mean that we must not try again – we must learn from the past. LED bulbs are too cost-efficient to ignore.

One or two 100-watt solar panels can supply all the electricity for LED lighting for a middle class home and further increase the savings in oil and income from carbon credits. Perhaps the local electrical code should consider mandating that lights to be on a sub-panel for easy of separation of lights from the mains supply so that a Solar panel can be easily be used for lighting with mains power as back-up.

If your fridge is about ten years old chances are that you are using twice as much energy as a modern fridge. The most modern energy-efficient fridge – the inverter fridge – uses about 40 per cent of the power of other modern refrigerators. Again, continuing my scenario let’s look at 50,000 inverter fridges. The oil plus carbon credits saved over five years would be as much as J$700 million compared to other modern fridges. Remember that this refers to modern refrigerators and that the savings could easily be twice as much depending on the age and type or refrigerator. So when it is time to replace a fridge this is what you should take into account. An inverter fridge is most cost effective if you supply your own electricity because you can use less panels in your photovoltaic system.

Solar panels

Consider the situation if we go all the way and put 50,000 houses fully off-grid – i.e. supplying their own electricity by solar panels. The cost for the systems would be approximately J$28 billion. Solar panels are now quite cost effective, but batteries are not as economical. That hurdle can be overcome by developing a local industry. Locals are getting into the Lead/Acid battery industry and are targeting the deep cycle battery market. Over a 5 year horizon these systems could save some J$14 billion in oil and carbon credits. This suggests a 10 year payback (oil at US$100/barrel) but how many expect that price to hold for ten years? World oil has peaked – i.e. most readily accessible oil is used up and current supplies are difficult to mine.

Where does all this take us?

Airlift has impacted the shipping business; post offices have scaled down due to the use of email; camera films sales have crashed due to digital cameras; cellular telephony has all but knocked out landline telephony; cable television has reduced movie box office sales; answering machines and computers and automation have put people out of work; and the list goes on and on, and, somewhere, in the not too distant future, the giant power companies will give ground to individual power production. Up until recently (if not still so) Bermuda, an island with near zero unemployment and good financial statistics did not have piped water and instead, homes store roof run off under the building. I now see electricity heading in the general direction of using the top of the building. Yes, Jamaica was one of the first countries in the world to have mains electricity but let us not be the last to recognize the inevitable changes.

So if we spend so much less on oil, even if our earnings remain stagnant, do we get growth? Minister of Energy, Philip Paulwell is well aware of all that is going on in the world of energy and we expect him to guide us through the process of change as he did for telecommunications.

Next time let’s look closer at air conditioning and motor cars and start with the fact that a small conventional automobile produces as much carbon as a small family!

Robert Evans is a Civil Engineer.

News

‘Stop whining about electricity bills’

April 18, 2012 jrobinson

JAMAICANS no longer have a good reason to complain about high electricity bills, says Roger Chang, president of the Jamaica Solar Energy Association. A cheaper alternative is available.

“There is no valid reason for complaining of high electricity cost. Because there is an option and that option is solar panel systems. It will produce electricity at a ‘levelised’ cost of electricity of just around US10 cents per Kilowatt hour (kWh),” Chang told the Rotary Club of Spanish Town at the Police Officers Club in St Andrew.

“And when you factor in the other costs, the other tariffs, it will work out somewhere between another seven to nine cent. So you are looking at maybe US19 cents per kWh which is still less than half of JPS,” he said.

Insisting that renewable energy is the way to go, Chang argued that when one looks at the cost of electricity over the lifespan of 25 years it works out to about US10 cent per kWh. Consumers are now paying JPS over US45 cents per kWh. “Four times as much.”

However, Chang, who has been involved with solar panels since the 1980s, admitted that there is a place for the Jamaica Public Service.

“If we are talking in the context of solar panels as a renewable energy source, then you will need JPS to make the renewable energy source cost effective and viable. What we effectively have been doing is using the JPS as a battery, as a backup battery. So JPS is cheaper than you can buy and maintain our own batteries,” Chang said.

“You don’t use solar panel as a backup system. It is not cost effective that way,” he cautioned, adding, “It doesn’t make sense that you buy solar panels and batteries and invest hundreds of thousands on a backup system that you don’t use.

JPS rates have not gone down significantly for a very long time, partly because the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulations) has mandated that they should concentrate on making the grid more stable, with fewer power cuts.

“We don’t get power cut as we used to before,” Chang said. “So, a solar panel system with batteries as a backup is not worth it anymore.”

Under a complicated formula, JPS will soon start paying small power genera-tors between US20 cents and US26 cents for electricity they feed into the grid.

News

PCJ donates solar panels to Bellevue

January 13, 2011 jrobinson

: Image via Wikipedia

The Bellevue Hospital in Kingston is looking forward to cuts in its electricity bill after receiving a gift of seven solar outdoor lighting system donated by the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ).

The solar panels, which were recently installed, will save the health facility some $700,000 per year, representing approximately five per cent savings.

PCJ Chairman Paris Lyew-Ayee said yesterday that with oil prices on the increase, it is important that the Government be a leader in saving the commodity.

News

Don Wehby of Grace Kennedy speaks out on solar incentives needed for Jamaica

November 5, 2010 jrobinson

Don Wehby, Guest Writer

Bill Clinton last week reinvigorated the public discourse on the use of renewable energy in Jamaica. Solar energy, of which Jamaica is in abundant supply, is particularly important if we are to diversify away from imported sources of energy and become energy self-sufficient.

While much has been said about solar electricity over the past few years, actual usage has been slow to spread because of the large initial investment required and the scarce availability of financial incentives.

It currently costs somewhere between J$2 million to J$3 million to fully equip a three-bedroom house with solar-generated power. This puts solar systems out of the reach of the majo-rity of Jamaican homeowners.

4kW job in Kingston. Jamaica

Although the upfront expenditure is burdensome, solar panels have a lifespan of 25 years or more and a minimum battery life of seven years. They are built to withstand 125-mile-per-hour winds and will start losing power after about three days of overcast conditions.

The payback period for solar investments is typically 6-8 years and can be sooner, depending on rising fuel costs, taxes on electricity (currently 10 per cent GCT in Jamaica) and foreign-exchange movements.

Despite these benefits, there are few incentives to invest in solar technology in Jamaica.

Currently, solar systems – including panels, batteries and inverters – are exempt from GCT and import duties.

The National Housing Trust (NHT) also offers low-interest “solar panel loans” of up to J$1.5 million for individual applicants and J$3 million for co-applicants. The interest rate ranges from 1 per cent to 7 per cent, depending on your weekly income, with a repayment period of 15 years.

The NHT also offers a solar water heater loan of up to J$250,000 at 3 per cent for 5 years. These loan options should be more aggressively marketed so that more Jamaicans are aware of their existence.

On the commercial side, the National Export-Import Bank of Jamaica has implemented a special credit line for manufacturers and agro-processors to establish alternative- energy systems at relatively low interest rates.

While these incentives are commendable, they are not enough to fuel a solar energy revolution in Jamaica. In fact, Barbados is the leader in the Caribbean in terms of structuring incentives to drive renewable energy adoption.

Homeowners receive significant income tax deductions for investing in systems and equipment that make their homes more energy-efficient and/or generate electricity from renewable sources.

Along similar lines, I recommend that the following provisions be added to Jamaica’s income tax code to encourage solar energy adoption among both commercial and residential property owners:

An individual owner of residential property who spends, inter alia, on energy saving or water-saving devices be entitled to a maximum deduction from yearly taxable income of up to J$1,000,000.

Up to J$250,000 can be deducted for expenditure related to a home energy audit and the purchase of any conservation materials or systems recommended in that audit. A home energy audit is defined as an evaluation by an authorised energy auditor of the energy consumption in a household to determine ways in which energy can be conserved.

Up to J$750,000 can be deducted for expenditure on the purchase or installation of ‘environmentally preferred products’. ‘Environmentally preferred products’ means pro-ducts that cause significantly less harm to human health or to the environment than alternative pro-ducts that serve the same purpose; or products, the consumption of which contributes significantly to the preservation of the environment.

A tax policy for commercial enterprises should also be implemented based on the following guidelines:

Up to 30 per cent of the capital cost of investing in renewable energy technologies can be deducted from profit before tax, with a maximum claim of J$20 million; and

Accelerated depreciation on qualifying environmentally preferred assets – for example, depreciation of up to 50 per cent of the asset in one year.

These tax incentives will drive adoption of solar technology at both the residential and commercial levels, helping to move Jamaica towards becoming self-sufficient in energy.

NET METERING HAS A ROLE

Finally, we need to reach a consensus with the domestic power company on the issue of net metering.

Net metering allows an electricity customer’s meter to run backwards if the electricity he or she generates is greater than that consumed, effectively banking the electricity until it is needed by the customer.

This provides the customer with full retail value for all the electricity produced and is used in more than 30 states in the US and widely throughout Europe.

Under Jamaica’s proposed net billing policy, an additional meter will have to be installed at the customer’s expense, and a much lower ‘avoided cost’ value is placed on surplus electricity despite it being generated in a more environmentally sustainable way. This is a financial disincentive.

Net metering will make the payback period on deploying solar technology shorter and is a matter of priority if we are truly serious about energy self-sufficiency.

At approximately J$25 per kWh of electricity, Jamaica’s energy costs are among the most expensive in the world – with adverse effects on our standard of living and productive capacity.

Let us use the reinvigorated public discussion to effect real change in how we incentivise renewable energy use.

Don Wehby is group COO of GraceKennedy Limited.

don.wehby@gkco.com

Jamaica Gleaner

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