In a recent article in the NYtimes, the North American Reliability Corporation states that the US grid's transmission reliability could be affected by increasing Solar and Wind power . Why? Intermittence.
Solar and Wind technologies are classified as intermittent. This means that they could be up at one time and gone the next. The strength of wind varies highly within short periods of time. So does the power it generates. Solar doesn't vary that much but follows the length of the daytime. If a grid had a high penetration of these sources, power would drop at sundown or when the wind suddenly dies. Director Mario Marasigan of the Energy Utilization Management Bureau (Philippine DOE) that Solar and Wind plants would require equivalent back-up capacities from more reliable power sources.
To mitigate this, a few of things come to mind:
1.) Storage technologies have to be developed. Most industry players have focused on developing generation technology but few have really developed cheap, reliable, utility scale batteries. Can we not have the same revolution as with mobile device batteries?
2.) Generation planning is more crucial than ever. We can no longer have much excess capacity. The penetration limit of intermittent sources must be defined from simulation results. Simulations have to be more detailed that before covering not just transmission grids but also distribution networks.
3.) How do we manage electrical consumption at different times of the day? Energy efficiency will play a key role in addressing this issue.
Is the Grid ready for the power of the future? The answer is up to us?
With the passage of the Renewable Energy Bill only awaiting President Arroyo's signature to make it law, we must now focus our energies in the development of our resources. In my opinion, significant effort must be made to develop Solar, Ocean and Enhanced Geothermal Technologies. Except for solar, all of these are capable of supporting baseload demand. I am biased towards these technologies as I believe are more sustainable compared to others. Biomass is faced with price issues as farmers are beginning to charge for the fuel. Biofuels are threatened with food vs fuel issues. Wind is very intermittent. Hydro is usually plagued with water use conflicts.
Solar should be an area of focus because of its portability. In off-grid and island areas, it remains to be a feasible solution for electrification. We must however focus on thin film technologies as silicon is extremely expensive. In the developing world, where land is usually not an issue, high efficiency cells may not be necessary. A thin film module would cost about $1 -1.50 /Watt as opposed to Si costing about $3-4/Watt. In the Philippines, the Visayas and Mindanao would be good areas for Photovoltaic power.
Ocean should also play a key role because of the archipelagic nature of our country. The tight straights between our islands make it ideal for marine current turbines to operate. The straight between Boracay and Caticlan, known to divers as "Channel Drift", would likely be a good spot for marine current power. There's also a feasibility ongoing in Cebu. Frankly, I'm sick and tired when people tell me that these are all in feasibility stage at the moment. We've been having feasibility studies all over the world for the last 20 years!
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a good technology to work on. I envision this along the coasts situated along the Pacific. OTEC uses the temperature gradient between the surface and the deep ocean to run a "reverse" refrigeration cycle capable of running a turbine. An OTEC facility can also provide Sea Water Air Conditioning/ Refigeration (SWAC) Again, people say this is still in technical feasibility. How can a 100 year old technology still be in feasibility? In essence this technology is just a deep well connected to a heat exchanger! Can we not accelerate our learning by knowledge management and disciplined risk assessment?
Finally, there is enhanced geothermal technology. This technology requires digging upto 3-4kms below, injecting water and piping the resulting steam to turbines. This makes geothermal portable to areas with an ample supply of water. Gone are the limitations of putting your plant in mountains and protected areas. You can put your plant in the middle of lahar country in Region 3 as long as you can provide the water. The best sites would probably be near the coasts. If done correctly, there would be no waste water or heat as water used will be reinjected into the heat source.
What keeps the Philippines from achieving these technologies? A beggars mentality? A mindset of intellectual and financial inferiority? Being sigurista? If we are to remain enslaved by these, we will never have progress! We will be caught by the never ending cycle of foreign debt. We have to pass the hat around and develop our resources for ourselves. Instead of wasting our money in gambling, lets put our money into this where the odds are better.
The Irish have a phrase "Sinn Fein" meaning "Our Own". While the phrase has been associated with the "troubles" in Ulster, translating the phrase in Filipino removes its bleak flavor. "Sariling Atin" brings the hope of the sunrise and the vitality of the rainbow.
Sa paglilinang ng "Sariling Atin", tiyak na darating ang pag-asang parang bukang liwayway. Kasunod dito ang malabahagharing kulay, ng buhay sa bansang tunay na malaya.
With all the controversy about Chinese milk, etc. I decided to put this blog about the Chinese PV industry highlighting my experience dealing with them in the Solar industry.
The company I was working for had a subcontractor in Shenzhen. Our company made the cells, they assembled these into modules (aka panels). Getting to Shenzhen wasn't really a problem. I remember filling out the application early in the week then getting it by Friday. There appears to be an atmosphere of wanting people to come in. I got a 2 entry F visa good for 3 months. There was another occasion where I had to go to Shenzhen at short notice with out any visa. Taking a van from HK, I go to the border at Huanggang. The visa office can issue you a 7 day L visa for about 400RMB (if my memory serves me right). They can also issue you a 40 day visa. I brought my own picture but they can take your picture there also. My friend gets his visa at Luohu (Lowu in Cantonese) accessible from HK by commuter train at East Tsim Sha Tsui. If you intend to go somewhere else, you can get your visa at these border stations, take the train from Luohu or the plane at Bao-an airport.
Our subcontractor was located in the Longgang district of Shenzhen. The factory was a 2 floor operation with an a company of workers. Solar cells were soldered by hand. Our cells were thin so they kept on breaking a lot of them until they learned how to handle them correctly. The paper trail was confusing, process control was a mess. I was tasked to work on the testing area, where I found the lack of temperature controls which led to the underating of our modules. My colleague was working on lamination issues, and he found issues like water contamination during glass washing ( yes glass gets washed before cells are laminated on to it).
Factory management was also struggling personnel issues. High turnover translated to workmanship issues when replacement workers came. There was the language problem. Management also had communication issues with workers. Despite of all this, I found the Chinese worker industrious and helpful if he/she understood what you were trying to do. Things got better when they hired a Six Sigma Black Belt for a Quality director. My Shenzhen based colleague was able to work joyfully for a change.
Its is a principle that you get what you pay for. If you want to pay cheap, be prepared to invest more sweat into it. You actually pay more eventually by paying less initially. Chinese labor is definitely cheap but the juggernaut attached. We had to deal with modules that were under rated , delaminating or shorted/shunted. Someone once said that people don't care about quality anymore. I beg to disagree. If you're paying for a $750 PV module or a $20,000 car, there'd better be high quality in it.
What does the Philippines do when countries like China and Vietnam siphon labor intensive industries? We adapt! Our industries should move towards automated, high value portions of the supply chain. If we used to assemble, now we ought to fabricate. We now have Sunpower and Solaria fabrication plants. I just talked to a local thin film PV developer who's also starting up. We should also move to knowledge based industries. While call centers are good we should move to technology/software design services.
In summary, we are faced with a choice. We can either whine about other countries taking over our turf or adapt and survive. First we need to Outlive (our comfort zones)...Outpray...Overcome. Then we begin to Outwit...Outplay...Outlast!
Photovoltaics (PV) are quite different। These parts collect light from the sun and transform them into electricity. These collectors are 5" wide diodes, usually Si, that generate charge carriers when exposed to light. ( I'll probably get into the physics of this device in a later blog.) A cell has about 0.6V and 5A (about 3W). The cells are stringed together in series to produce a module (laymen call these panels). Typically off-grid applications would require 30-50W modules. An on-grid installation uses 200W modules. (If you don't know what this means, just go outside your house and see if you have an electric meter. If you have one , then you're on-grid. ) If you have a house that consumes 1.5kW(1500W) of electricity at peak ( The sum of all wattage ratings of your appliances and lights), you will need about 10 200W panels to meet your electrical needs and system loses.
In a photovoltaic system you will also need to have a charge controller or control center and storage. The control center toggles between your modules and the grid (normal power from the utility). It also monitors the charge of your batteries. The storage batteries should be deep cycle ones like those used in an RV and not your car batteries. (Deep cycle batts provide 80% of their rated capacity vs. 20% for car batts.)
With all these components together you should be able to produce your own electricity. I'll be talking more about how to modules in a later blog...
When you mention solar energy people would respond in a lot of ways. The most common one would be solar water heaters from Solahart. I'm blogging to give an introduction for all of you who might be interested to have solar at home.
