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
2011年12月8日星期四
Solar thermal power plants switching technology to take advantage
A free fall in prices of photovoltaic solar panels has caused several large solar generating projects in California to shift plans in ways that could eventually benefit the state's electricity consumers.
Three years ago, renewable energy developers laid plans to populate the American Southwest with massive solar thermal power plants, which concentrate the sun's rays to boil water and create steam to turn turbines that generate electricity. But as the projects went through lengthy permitting and environmental reviews, the price of photovoltaic solar panels plummeted because of a global oversupply driven by a glut of low-cost panels from China.
That made PV panels, which are common on homes and commercial roofs, increasingly attractive to project developers, banks and utilities like PG&E and Southern California Edison, which have to justify the cost of renewable energy contracts before state regulators. Several large solar projects have now announced plans to switch from solar thermal to PV.
State energy officials say the shift will not have an immediate impact on consumers, but eventually may result in lower-priced electricity than what would have come from the solar thermal plants.
"PV is very cheap right now and it's faster to put up," said Paula Mints, a solar industry analyst with Navigant Consulting. Solar thermal, she added, "takes about two years to build. With PV there's more instant gratification."
California utilities are required by state law to buy a third of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, and the cost of that energy is a growing concern. The California Public Utilities Commission has begun to take a much closer look at the price of the long-term power contracts that utilities sign with developers, known as power purchase agreements or PPAs. Last month, the commission voted 4-1 to approve PG&E's 25-year contract with one solar thermal project only after a heated discussion about its cost. Commissioner Mike Florio voted against it.
"The PPA unnecessarily saddles ratepayers with extraordinary above-market costs -- $1.25 billion," Florio argued. "We could probably get almost 500 megawatts of renewable energy for the price we're paying for this 250 megawatts."
Last year, the California Energy Commission approved nine utility-scale solar thermal power plants in California's Mojave and Colorado deserts. So far, developers of five of the nine solar thermal projects -- Beacon, Blythe, Calico, Imperial Valley and Palen -- have announced they are switching from solar thermal to PV. And it's not just California -- similar shifts are happening in Arizona and Nevada.
"Solar Millennium responds quickly and pragmatically to market conditions, and at the moment the California market favors PV technology," CEO Christoph Wolff said in a statement. "We are taking decisive steps in the U.S. to maximize site value for our company and our shareholders."
Solar Millennium is now in the process of selling its California projects, including Blythe and Palen, to Solarhybrid, a German PV developer. Solarhybrid has said it intends to build both projects with PV, using solar panels made by First Solar, an American company based in Tempe, Ariz. Construction on Blythe is now expected to begin in 2013.
One advantage to solar thermal is that it is thought to be less "spiky." When clouds move over a PV plant, the amount of electricity produced can drop. But solar thermal plants take longer to build, and have faced opposition from environmentalists concerned about the use of water in desert environments and impacts on native plants and species.
Three years ago, renewable energy developers laid plans to populate the American Southwest with massive solar thermal power plants, which concentrate the sun's rays to boil water and create steam to turn turbines that generate electricity. But as the projects went through lengthy permitting and environmental reviews, the price of photovoltaic solar panels plummeted because of a global oversupply driven by a glut of low-cost panels from China.
That made PV panels, which are common on homes and commercial roofs, increasingly attractive to project developers, banks and utilities like PG&E and Southern California Edison, which have to justify the cost of renewable energy contracts before state regulators. Several large solar projects have now announced plans to switch from solar thermal to PV.
State energy officials say the shift will not have an immediate impact on consumers, but eventually may result in lower-priced electricity than what would have come from the solar thermal plants.
"PV is very cheap right now and it's faster to put up," said Paula Mints, a solar industry analyst with Navigant Consulting. Solar thermal, she added, "takes about two years to build. With PV there's more instant gratification."
California utilities are required by state law to buy a third of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, and the cost of that energy is a growing concern. The California Public Utilities Commission has begun to take a much closer look at the price of the long-term power contracts that utilities sign with developers, known as power purchase agreements or PPAs. Last month, the commission voted 4-1 to approve PG&E's 25-year contract with one solar thermal project only after a heated discussion about its cost. Commissioner Mike Florio voted against it.
"The PPA unnecessarily saddles ratepayers with extraordinary above-market costs -- $1.25 billion," Florio argued. "We could probably get almost 500 megawatts of renewable energy for the price we're paying for this 250 megawatts."
Last year, the California Energy Commission approved nine utility-scale solar thermal power plants in California's Mojave and Colorado deserts. So far, developers of five of the nine solar thermal projects -- Beacon, Blythe, Calico, Imperial Valley and Palen -- have announced they are switching from solar thermal to PV. And it's not just California -- similar shifts are happening in Arizona and Nevada.
"Solar Millennium responds quickly and pragmatically to market conditions, and at the moment the California market favors PV technology," CEO Christoph Wolff said in a statement. "We are taking decisive steps in the U.S. to maximize site value for our company and our shareholders."
Solar Millennium is now in the process of selling its California projects, including Blythe and Palen, to Solarhybrid, a German PV developer. Solarhybrid has said it intends to build both projects with PV, using solar panels made by First Solar, an American company based in Tempe, Ariz. Construction on Blythe is now expected to begin in 2013.
One advantage to solar thermal is that it is thought to be less "spiky." When clouds move over a PV plant, the amount of electricity produced can drop. But solar thermal plants take longer to build, and have faced opposition from environmentalists concerned about the use of water in desert environments and impacts on native plants and species.
2011年8月25日星期四
PSEG says it will not negotiate on solar panel installations in Wyckoff
A spokesman for Public Service Electric & Gas said Thursday, Aug. 25, that the company would not negotiate the number of solar panels it plans to install in the township.
The township issued a cease and desist letter after PSE&G resumed installing the solar panels in June, becoming the first municipality in the state to challenge the legality of Solar 4 All, a program expected to generate 40 megawatts of solar energy through pole-attached solar panels.
Committeeman Christopher DePhillips said Wednesday, Aug. 24, that during ongoing negotiations between the parties' lawyers, the township gave the company a number and locations of where it would be "comfortable" with having the panels installed. DePhillips would not say what the number was, just that it was "substantially" lower than what PSE&G said it had planned to install.
The company had already installed 25 panels when the township issued the cease and desist letter; representatives had said the 3-foot by 5-foot panels could be mounted on as many as 100 of the company's 1,785 poles in the township.
But PSE&G spokesman Fran Sullivan said the company would not negotiate the number of panels it installed in the township because it has always been the company's stance that it needs every available pole to meet its goals.
"As a matter of standards we are not going to negotiate this number in Wyckoff," Sullivan said. "Truly our hope with this is that we can settle this in an amicable way with Wyckoff, and this shouldn't be perceived as a threat, but we would also have the legal option to go in."
Township officials contend the installation of the panels violates a zoning ordinance that prohibits communication antennas in residential zones and said in the cease and desist letter that the panels "exceed the scope of permitted activities in the municipal right-of-way."
Al Matos, vice president of renewable energy solutions, said at a special Township Committee meeting in April that the panels are part of a communications network. As such, Mayor Kevin Rooney said previously that the panels would violate the ordinance. He said that either the communications network would have to be disabled in the township or the company would have to apply to the Zoning Board of Adjustment for a waiver for the installation of each panel.
Sullivan reiterated that the company feels the ordinance applies to cell towers and "not the communication antennas [and] equipment on the solar units."
"We believe we have the right to install these units on these poles," Sullivan said.
He said the company would not install solar units while the cease and desist order is in effect.
"Pursuing this through the courts to have the cease and desist lifted would be the last step," Sullivan said. "We're not anxious to pursue the legal route and hope to settle this amicably but we do consider legal action to be an option."
The township issued a cease and desist letter after PSE&G resumed installing the solar panels in June, becoming the first municipality in the state to challenge the legality of Solar 4 All, a program expected to generate 40 megawatts of solar energy through pole-attached solar panels.
Committeeman Christopher DePhillips said Wednesday, Aug. 24, that during ongoing negotiations between the parties' lawyers, the township gave the company a number and locations of where it would be "comfortable" with having the panels installed. DePhillips would not say what the number was, just that it was "substantially" lower than what PSE&G said it had planned to install.
The company had already installed 25 panels when the township issued the cease and desist letter; representatives had said the 3-foot by 5-foot panels could be mounted on as many as 100 of the company's 1,785 poles in the township.
But PSE&G spokesman Fran Sullivan said the company would not negotiate the number of panels it installed in the township because it has always been the company's stance that it needs every available pole to meet its goals.
"As a matter of standards we are not going to negotiate this number in Wyckoff," Sullivan said. "Truly our hope with this is that we can settle this in an amicable way with Wyckoff, and this shouldn't be perceived as a threat, but we would also have the legal option to go in."
Township officials contend the installation of the panels violates a zoning ordinance that prohibits communication antennas in residential zones and said in the cease and desist letter that the panels "exceed the scope of permitted activities in the municipal right-of-way."
Al Matos, vice president of renewable energy solutions, said at a special Township Committee meeting in April that the panels are part of a communications network. As such, Mayor Kevin Rooney said previously that the panels would violate the ordinance. He said that either the communications network would have to be disabled in the township or the company would have to apply to the Zoning Board of Adjustment for a waiver for the installation of each panel.
Sullivan reiterated that the company feels the ordinance applies to cell towers and "not the communication antennas [and] equipment on the solar units."
"We believe we have the right to install these units on these poles," Sullivan said.
He said the company would not install solar units while the cease and desist order is in effect.
"Pursuing this through the courts to have the cease and desist lifted would be the last step," Sullivan said. "We're not anxious to pursue the legal route and hope to settle this amicably but we do consider legal action to be an option."
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