Solar energy is gradually becoming popular in Georgia as more and more companies offer equipment for its installation.
However solar equipment will eventually pay for itself in two to five years depending on how much sun a particular location receives. At first glance this seems quite attractive, but the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Georgia advises investing money in something else if one is looking for a quick and easy economic result.
There are two types of equipment for solar energy: solar collectors and solar panels. The first one is used for space heating and hot water. Meanwhile solar panels generate and supply electricity in commercial and residential applications.
“The price of a solar collector depends of the needs of the customer,” Zurab Mshvenieradze, Owner of Techenergo, told The FINANCIAL. “If a family of three uses a solar collector for 150 litres of water of 55 Celsius and heating for an apartment of 50 square meters daily, the cost of the equipment will be 2,200 USD.”
In total its price will come to about 3,000 USD. Techenergo offers solar collectors with two year guarantees. The guarantee for a solar panel is 20 years.
“The price of solar panels also varies depending on the types of panels and totals approximately 4 USD per 1 watt. The supply voltage could be permanent or variable up to 1,000 volts,” Mshvenieradze explained.
“Installing solar collectors will pay for itself in about two years in the event of average use which means 50 litres of 55 Celsius water per person. The equipment of solar panels will pay for itself in five years time in the event of using 200-300 Kilowatt/hour per month.”
“In spite of the high cost of installation, solar energy is quite profitable and demand has increased since the utility bill for waste has been attached to the utility bill for electricity. The main demand is coming from the cities. But in reality solar energy is more profitable in the regions,” he stated.
The solar energy cost per Kilowatt/hour is about 0.40 USD according to international prices. One Kilowatt/hour of hydro electro energy is about 0.13 GEL in Georgia. The price difference is quite high, but after several years people will have free electricity in the case of solar energy.
According to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Georgia nowadays in Georgia solar energy collectors and panels are being installed in high mountainous regions including Tusheti, where hydro electro energy is not available. The first stage of this project has already been implemented and the second step will start in a short while. It is being funded by a grant.
“On the other hand people who have enough money to afford quite expensive equipment mainly install them in houses out of Tbilisi ,” said Mariam Valishvili, First deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Georgia. “Georgia isn’t ready for intensive use of solar energy. 3,000 USD is quite a significant amount of money for the majority of the Georgian population. Not many of them can afford it. In regards to solar energy development, the Government needs subsidies. This is almost impossible as our economy does not give us the possibility.”
“Here lies another problem. Solar energy equipment needs special care. Lots of users do not know about this and the equipment therefore experiences malfunctions frequently. So solar energy is associated with several problems and isn’t likely to be used intensively in Georgia in the near future. It comes down to additional comfort versus everyday needs,” Valishvili explained.
“If people are planning to invest money in solar energy, I’d advise them to invest in something else based on their situation. On the other hand, investors who are going to make capital in such projects will only get this money back in about 50 years. Such projects are generally funded by grants, she added.
Solar energy is being implemented in high mountainous regions where hydro electro energy is not available. As a result solar energy is helping the development of eco tourism as well.
The annual amount of sunshine that Georgia receives is quite high. It mainly depends on cloud cover, which is normal. The duration of sunshine varies from 250 to 280 days in Georgia. This is 1,360-2,500 hours of sunshine. This rate is highest in the Shiraki Valley, Gardabani Plains, Lower Achara and high Caucasus mountains.
2012年2月27日星期一
2012年2月14日星期二
Village in race to install solar panels
A VILLAGE hall is hoping to beat a Government deadline regarding the installation of solar panels on its roof.
Sadberge Village Hall Association Committee plans to put up 15 solar panels by March 3, when the Government's so-called "feed-in tariff" - or the rate offered for energy per kilowatt - is cut.
At present, it offers 43.3p per kilowatt an hour for anyone producing their own energy. After March 3, that will be cut to 21p.
AlastairMackenzie, amember of Sadberge Climate Change Group, which has push-ed for the panels, said: "If we get the 43.3p tariff, it will take seven to eight years to work back the 9,000 cost of the panels. However, it would take twice asmuch time if the tariffis 21p."
The 9,000 will be taken from the village hall contingency fund.
Mr Mackenzie believes the panels were a good investment for the village.He said: "The village hall is a really important part of our community, especially for the elderly.
By installing the panels, it will lower the heating bill and relieve the financial pressures."
Joan Vickers, chairwoman of SVHAC, said: "Our utility bills are on the rise all the time. This will mean money coming into the village hall for the next 25 years."
Planning permission has been sought from the borough council. If granted, the panels will be installed by Barrier Energy, a company based in Shildon.
SVHAC has also applied for funding from the Banks Community Fund and has a provisional agreement with them for 5,000 to replace the old windows in the cafe section of the hall with double-glazed ones.
The fund was set up by Banks Renewables, which is building six wind turbines on Moorhouse Farm at Barmpton, near Darlington.
The two initiatives, as well as a previous project which installed solar panels on houses in the village, is part of Sadberge Climate Working Group's renewable energy project.
It was formed in 2008 to meet with the parish plan objective to make the village more environmentally responsible.
Sadberge Village Hall Association Committee plans to put up 15 solar panels by March 3, when the Government's so-called "feed-in tariff" - or the rate offered for energy per kilowatt - is cut.
At present, it offers 43.3p per kilowatt an hour for anyone producing their own energy. After March 3, that will be cut to 21p.
AlastairMackenzie, amember of Sadberge Climate Change Group, which has push-ed for the panels, said: "If we get the 43.3p tariff, it will take seven to eight years to work back the 9,000 cost of the panels. However, it would take twice asmuch time if the tariffis 21p."
The 9,000 will be taken from the village hall contingency fund.
Mr Mackenzie believes the panels were a good investment for the village.He said: "The village hall is a really important part of our community, especially for the elderly.
By installing the panels, it will lower the heating bill and relieve the financial pressures."
Joan Vickers, chairwoman of SVHAC, said: "Our utility bills are on the rise all the time. This will mean money coming into the village hall for the next 25 years."
Planning permission has been sought from the borough council. If granted, the panels will be installed by Barrier Energy, a company based in Shildon.
SVHAC has also applied for funding from the Banks Community Fund and has a provisional agreement with them for 5,000 to replace the old windows in the cafe section of the hall with double-glazed ones.
The fund was set up by Banks Renewables, which is building six wind turbines on Moorhouse Farm at Barmpton, near Darlington.
The two initiatives, as well as a previous project which installed solar panels on houses in the village, is part of Sadberge Climate Working Group's renewable energy project.
It was formed in 2008 to meet with the parish plan objective to make the village more environmentally responsible.
2011年12月26日星期一
Urban Grid capitalizing on interest in solar energy
Blue Crump started Urban Grid Solar Inc. in 2010 after seeing a growing interest in solar energy.
"From an installation and equipment cost perspective, solar energy is less expensive now than it has been historically," he said. "Energy rates will increase. This allows for businesses to hedge against those rising costs."
The company is a Richmond-based renewable-energy development firm and a general and alternative energy systems contractor. It also provides solar financing and development, solar installations, energy monitoring and services in other renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar thermal hot water.
"As the business has evolved, the energy sector, especially solar, has outpaced anything we do," Crump said.
From 2010 to 2011, Urban Grid's revenue grew 200 percent. In 2012, the company will focus on developing energy projects in Richmond and Annapolis, Md., where it has a second sales office, Crump said.
"We'll also concentrate on the Northeast, where utility projects are the highest," Crump said. "There are a lot of energy incentives in Washington, D.C., and Maryland, which creates a lot more opportunity in Northern Virginia and the Beltway."
The company also is looking at opportunities in Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
"We want to expand," Crump said.
Besides expanding its core business, the company recently started Urban Grid Mechanical. The company in Ashland works with businesses to identify strategies to lower energy consumption.
"We manage and control the consumption of energy in a building," Crump said of the new business.
When Crump started Urban Grid, he brought in partners Frank DePew, Greg Haley and Ken Gorvey.
"Our backgrounds complemented one another," Crump said, noting that he had worked in the green building industry. "Frank's background is in finance, Ken's is in accounting and Greg's is in large-scale commercial building."
The company mainly works with engineers and architects.
"We give them the tools to incorporate renewables into their projects," Crump said.
Urban Grid has a residential division.
"We are still doing a lot of green and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified building. We seek out projects that are a good fit for us," Crump said.
Urban Grid completed the first U.S. Green Building Council LEED gold-certified residential project in the Fan District in 2011. The Grove Avenue home has a green roof and a solar thermal and solar photovoltaic array of panels.
It also has a commercial division that works with medium-to-large businesses. The company works on federal and state projects.
Urban Grid has opportunities to work on state and federal government projects as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which allocated funds for energy-efficient and renewable-energy projects.
The company is working on two state projects: the 14th Street Parking Garage and the Virginia Distribution Center in Sandston.
The 14th Street project includes solar panels on the top of the garage that will provide shading for cars while generating electricity for the garage. "It is expected to offset 100 percent of the parking deck's energy consumption," Crump said.
Another project included installing a vertical-axis wind turbine at Virginia Commonwealth University. "It will be interesting to measure and monitor the winds that pass through Richmond and help offset their electric costs," Crump said.
Urban Grid also works on privately funded projects. It recently installed solar panels on the three hangars at Million Air, a Henrico County-based air charter service.
Million Air's owner, Mark Cooke, found it was easy to work with Urban Grid on the project.
"They kept us updated daily," he said. "They are extremely professional."
Scott Elliff, president of DuCard Vineyards in Madison County, worked with Urban Grid in 2010 to install solar panels that provide electricity to run the vineyard's wine-tasting operation.
"We use the sun to ripen the grapes and also to power our operations," Elliff said. "I found Urban Grid to be very competent and responsive to everything we were doing."
"From an installation and equipment cost perspective, solar energy is less expensive now than it has been historically," he said. "Energy rates will increase. This allows for businesses to hedge against those rising costs."
The company is a Richmond-based renewable-energy development firm and a general and alternative energy systems contractor. It also provides solar financing and development, solar installations, energy monitoring and services in other renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar thermal hot water.
"As the business has evolved, the energy sector, especially solar, has outpaced anything we do," Crump said.
From 2010 to 2011, Urban Grid's revenue grew 200 percent. In 2012, the company will focus on developing energy projects in Richmond and Annapolis, Md., where it has a second sales office, Crump said.
"We'll also concentrate on the Northeast, where utility projects are the highest," Crump said. "There are a lot of energy incentives in Washington, D.C., and Maryland, which creates a lot more opportunity in Northern Virginia and the Beltway."
The company also is looking at opportunities in Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
"We want to expand," Crump said.
Besides expanding its core business, the company recently started Urban Grid Mechanical. The company in Ashland works with businesses to identify strategies to lower energy consumption.
"We manage and control the consumption of energy in a building," Crump said of the new business.
When Crump started Urban Grid, he brought in partners Frank DePew, Greg Haley and Ken Gorvey.
"Our backgrounds complemented one another," Crump said, noting that he had worked in the green building industry. "Frank's background is in finance, Ken's is in accounting and Greg's is in large-scale commercial building."
The company mainly works with engineers and architects.
"We give them the tools to incorporate renewables into their projects," Crump said.
Urban Grid has a residential division.
"We are still doing a lot of green and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified building. We seek out projects that are a good fit for us," Crump said.
Urban Grid completed the first U.S. Green Building Council LEED gold-certified residential project in the Fan District in 2011. The Grove Avenue home has a green roof and a solar thermal and solar photovoltaic array of panels.
It also has a commercial division that works with medium-to-large businesses. The company works on federal and state projects.
Urban Grid has opportunities to work on state and federal government projects as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which allocated funds for energy-efficient and renewable-energy projects.
The company is working on two state projects: the 14th Street Parking Garage and the Virginia Distribution Center in Sandston.
The 14th Street project includes solar panels on the top of the garage that will provide shading for cars while generating electricity for the garage. "It is expected to offset 100 percent of the parking deck's energy consumption," Crump said.
Another project included installing a vertical-axis wind turbine at Virginia Commonwealth University. "It will be interesting to measure and monitor the winds that pass through Richmond and help offset their electric costs," Crump said.
Urban Grid also works on privately funded projects. It recently installed solar panels on the three hangars at Million Air, a Henrico County-based air charter service.
Million Air's owner, Mark Cooke, found it was easy to work with Urban Grid on the project.
"They kept us updated daily," he said. "They are extremely professional."
Scott Elliff, president of DuCard Vineyards in Madison County, worked with Urban Grid in 2010 to install solar panels that provide electricity to run the vineyard's wine-tasting operation.
"We use the sun to ripen the grapes and also to power our operations," Elliff said. "I found Urban Grid to be very competent and responsive to everything we were doing."
2011年10月27日星期四
Reliable energy for the future?
What types of big batteries or other energy storage systems will work best with renewable energy and the existing grid to ensure reliable power supplies in the future? A two-year research project under way in Arizona is seeking the answer to that question.
The Energy Storage Management Research and Testing (SMRT) site is being developed through a team effort involving German solar power company SOLON, Tucson Electric Power (TEP) and the Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy (AzRISE) at the University of Arizona. Saft Batteries is now the latest to come on board, providing lithium-ion batteries to help support the various tests to take place.
The project’s goal is to test how well different energy storage technologies can work with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels to provide reliable power for the grid. Knowing the best strategies can help utilities make the most of their growing renewable portfolios, which — while providing clean energy — can be harder to manage because of their intermittent nature.
“Storage for renewable energy will be essential for utilities, as they increase the penetration of clean energy generation into the utilities’ grids,” said William Richardson, SOLON’s director of research & development for SOLON Corporation.
The SMRT site (sounds like a James Bond-type organization, doesn’t it?) features a 1.6-megawatt (MW) solar plant built by SOLON that can have accommodate a variety of new or replacement storage technologies for testing. The first phase, launched this August, began with a compressed-air energy storage (CAES) technology that was designed and built by faculty and students at the University of Arizona.
CAES appears to be a good option for longer-term energy storage that can “save up” solar power for hours, days, weeks or longer. On the other hand, lithium-ion batteries might prove the better choice for managing short-term variability — ie, dealing with on-and-off fluctuations in solar power caused by passing clouds. Advanced batteries from Saft are due to arrive at the test site this fall for phase-two tests.
“Reliance on solar, wind and other renewable resources is on the rise, making this a fundamental opportunity to assess Saft’s Li-ion technology and its capabilities,” said Blake Frye, vice president of sales, Energy Storage, for Saft North America.
The Energy Storage Management Research and Testing (SMRT) site is being developed through a team effort involving German solar power company SOLON, Tucson Electric Power (TEP) and the Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy (AzRISE) at the University of Arizona. Saft Batteries is now the latest to come on board, providing lithium-ion batteries to help support the various tests to take place.
The project’s goal is to test how well different energy storage technologies can work with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels to provide reliable power for the grid. Knowing the best strategies can help utilities make the most of their growing renewable portfolios, which — while providing clean energy — can be harder to manage because of their intermittent nature.
“Storage for renewable energy will be essential for utilities, as they increase the penetration of clean energy generation into the utilities’ grids,” said William Richardson, SOLON’s director of research & development for SOLON Corporation.
The SMRT site (sounds like a James Bond-type organization, doesn’t it?) features a 1.6-megawatt (MW) solar plant built by SOLON that can have accommodate a variety of new or replacement storage technologies for testing. The first phase, launched this August, began with a compressed-air energy storage (CAES) technology that was designed and built by faculty and students at the University of Arizona.
CAES appears to be a good option for longer-term energy storage that can “save up” solar power for hours, days, weeks or longer. On the other hand, lithium-ion batteries might prove the better choice for managing short-term variability — ie, dealing with on-and-off fluctuations in solar power caused by passing clouds. Advanced batteries from Saft are due to arrive at the test site this fall for phase-two tests.
“Reliance on solar, wind and other renewable resources is on the rise, making this a fundamental opportunity to assess Saft’s Li-ion technology and its capabilities,” said Blake Frye, vice president of sales, Energy Storage, for Saft North America.
2011年8月30日星期二
For Solar, No Guarantees
With solar panel prices falling and a prominent manufacturer in bankruptcy, the U.S. solar industry has been hard-pressed for good news. But Washington continues to hand out loan guarantees.
The Department of Energy says the guarantees will create U.S. jobs in the green-energy industry. But critics say the government is trying to pick winners instead of leaving that function to the marketplace, citing the struggles of several companies that received government funds.
The White House this month made final a $197 million guarantee for SoloPower Inc., a maker of lightweight solar panels in San Jose, Calif. Two more guarantees for solar manufacturers valued at a combined $425 million are due to be approved before a Sept. 30 deadline.
The funding comes from the 2009 economic-stimulus package, which set aside enough cash to back about $60 billion in loans for renewable energy and transmission projects. Congress twice has raided those funds, leaving enough to back $25 billion in loans. The DOE has until the Sept. 30 end of the federal government's fiscal year to dole out the funds or lose them.
While demand for solar panels is rising, competition from Chinese manufacturers has driven down prices and made it hard for U.S. makers to compete.
Evergreen Solar Inc. this month filed for bankruptcy protection after closing a Massachusetts plant built with the help of state and local subsidies. Evergreen's panel technology, which uses less polysilicon than competitors do, looked like a good bet in 2008, when prices of the material were high. Polysilicon's price has plummeted since.
Solyndra Inc., which received a $535 million loan guarantee from the DOE to build a factory in northern California in 2009, last year had to close an older factory and lay off workers.
Some European countries subsidize solar power and other renewable energy sources by guaranteeing producers electricity rates that will help offset the producers' costs, which are then passed on to consumers. But proposals for such "feed-in tariffs" in the U.S. have stalled at the federal level.
Jesse Pichel, a clean-energy analyst at investment bank Jefferies & Co., said feed-in tariffs would give market forces a greater role in picking winning technologies. "The government really should not be picking technology bets," Mr. Pichel said. "It's fraught with potential failures."
The DOE acknowledges that loan guarantees don't always pan out but are worthwhile nonetheless. "While not every company will succeed in this competitive industry, we believe that solar generation and manufacturing play a vital role in helping America win the clean energy race," said DOE spokesman Damien LaVera.
To compete with larger manufacturers in China, SoloPower is targeting a niche of commercial and industrial buildings. The company's panels are lighter and potentially less expensive to install on rooftops because they are built without glass, said Chief Executive Tim Harris. "You want to get as much power per roof as you can. We can simply get more panels on the roof," he said.
The Department of Energy says the guarantees will create U.S. jobs in the green-energy industry. But critics say the government is trying to pick winners instead of leaving that function to the marketplace, citing the struggles of several companies that received government funds.
The White House this month made final a $197 million guarantee for SoloPower Inc., a maker of lightweight solar panels in San Jose, Calif. Two more guarantees for solar manufacturers valued at a combined $425 million are due to be approved before a Sept. 30 deadline.
The funding comes from the 2009 economic-stimulus package, which set aside enough cash to back about $60 billion in loans for renewable energy and transmission projects. Congress twice has raided those funds, leaving enough to back $25 billion in loans. The DOE has until the Sept. 30 end of the federal government's fiscal year to dole out the funds or lose them.
While demand for solar panels is rising, competition from Chinese manufacturers has driven down prices and made it hard for U.S. makers to compete.
Evergreen Solar Inc. this month filed for bankruptcy protection after closing a Massachusetts plant built with the help of state and local subsidies. Evergreen's panel technology, which uses less polysilicon than competitors do, looked like a good bet in 2008, when prices of the material were high. Polysilicon's price has plummeted since.
Solyndra Inc., which received a $535 million loan guarantee from the DOE to build a factory in northern California in 2009, last year had to close an older factory and lay off workers.
Some European countries subsidize solar power and other renewable energy sources by guaranteeing producers electricity rates that will help offset the producers' costs, which are then passed on to consumers. But proposals for such "feed-in tariffs" in the U.S. have stalled at the federal level.
Jesse Pichel, a clean-energy analyst at investment bank Jefferies & Co., said feed-in tariffs would give market forces a greater role in picking winning technologies. "The government really should not be picking technology bets," Mr. Pichel said. "It's fraught with potential failures."
The DOE acknowledges that loan guarantees don't always pan out but are worthwhile nonetheless. "While not every company will succeed in this competitive industry, we believe that solar generation and manufacturing play a vital role in helping America win the clean energy race," said DOE spokesman Damien LaVera.
To compete with larger manufacturers in China, SoloPower is targeting a niche of commercial and industrial buildings. The company's panels are lighter and potentially less expensive to install on rooftops because they are built without glass, said Chief Executive Tim Harris. "You want to get as much power per roof as you can. We can simply get more panels on the roof," he said.
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