Sun is not just a Star, it`s Tremendous Energy Absolute Electricity, Ultimate Blessin

[Neo]

Sun is not just a Star, it`s Tremendous Energy Absolute Electricity, Ultimate Blessing!

Wednesday May 26, 2010

Pakistan energy crisis stands at a very critical point in history and if not debated today it shall definitely threaten our survivals and our generations shall suffer badly in the decades to come. Act and act in the living present is all that is needed to overcome the grave energy crisis, unless new generation capacity is installed on war footing basis with a visible shift to Alternate Energy sources including Solar and Wind, the situation will severely affect socio-economic conditions. Therefore Private and Public sector both should devise alternatives to meet the current requirements and provide future solutions in order to get away with shortage of power and build an illuminated Pakistan. The world has chosen the new showground where Power Generation shall be done using renewable energy resources ensuring ultimate safety for public and reasonable protection of environment. Renewable energy sources are Solar, Wind, Hydro and BioFuel which replenish themselves while non renewable are coal, gas, HFO etc. which diminish with time.


Solar energy can be particularly suitable for developing countries such as Pakistan. In rural and remote areas, transmission and distribution of energy generated from fossil fuels can be difficult and expensive. Producing renewable energy locally can offer a viable alternative. Solar energy can directly contribute to poverty alleviation by providing the energy needed for creating businesses and employment. It can also make indirect contributions towards reducing poverty by providing energy for cooking, space heating, and lighting. It can also contribute to education, by providing electricity to schools.

Solar energy is the energy derived from the sun; solar powered electrical generation relies on photovoltaics and heat engines. Solar applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, daylighting, solar hot water, solar cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes.

Solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. And without any ambiguity it can be said that solar energy projects are most feasible for Pakistan as its geographical location on the map makes it ideally suited to make most advantage of the blessed plentiful sunshine by using Solar Energy Technologies. Solar energy has great potential to provide 5 MWh per meter square per annum and at this rate solar energy has the potential to supply over 1,000 times the total consumption of energy and shall no doubt become the dominant energy source in a few decades. As solar radiation is intermittent, solar power generation is combined either with storage or other energy sources to provide continuous power, although for small distributed consumers, net metering makes this transparent to the consumer.

The world has moved on to energize through this abundant source and literally whole cities are enlightened through it. The solar thermal power industry is growing rapidly and 13.9 GW announced globally through 2014. Spain is the epicenter of solar thermal power development with 22 projects for 1,037 MW under construction; while in the United States only, 5,600 MW of solar thermal power projects have been announced.

It is also mentionable that Kenya is the world leader in the number of solar power systems installed per capita. More than 30,000 very small solar panels, each producing 12 to 30 watts, are sold in Kenya annually. For an investment of as little as $100, then why cant us? What is abstaining us? Solar Photovoltaics Modules factory must be setup so that reduce cost per kWh, it is also notable that this plant does not require big initial investment but the raw materials may require little cost for production which can also be reduced if solar cell manufacturing plants are installed.

It is genuinely evident that solar energy can provide sustainable, clean, cost effective, and localized energy to our people. Authorities must stand up to politicians and oil companies that want to hamper our emergence by relying on foreign oil. Alternative energy solutions and especially solar can have a realized advantage; taxpayers, engineers, scientists and philanthropists are the ones to compel government to change policy and redirect our collective energies to beneficial results. We have to work together as wise citizens, to establish a prosperous enlightened Pakistan.

Pakistan News Service - PakTribune

[UmairP]

Surely sun is a great source of energy but it is a little expensive to get energy from Sun. Maybe after sometime this cost is reduced and we can get affordable energy. Pakistan surely requires electricity now more than ever before but we also want it to be low cost.

[UmairP]

Solar energy will fall in price to match the cost of conventional fossil fuel electricity far sooner than previously expected, the UK's largest solar company has claimed in a new report. Solarcentury said British homeowners will see solar achieve "grid parity" – the point where solar electricity rivals or becomes cheaper than conventional nonrenewable electricity – by 2013. Most predictions suggest that technological innovation will not bring the price down far enough until 2020 or later.

The company suggested falling production costs for solar panels and increasing conventional electricity costs have brought parity closer. Prices for solar and grid electricity in residential homes are expected to crossover at around 17p to 18p per unit of electricity (kWh) in 2013, followed by parity for commercial solar electricity in 2018.

Last December, the renewable energy analysts New Energy Finance predicted silicon costs – a key material for much solar panel technology – would fall by 31.5% in 2009 compared with 2008 levels. Energy consultants Element Energy, under commission from the government, have also forecast solar PV costs will fall by around half between now and 2020.

Derry Newman, CEO for Solarcentury, said: "When you reach grid parity, you have a watershed moment where the perceptions of investors and consumers shift. People have been programmed to believe solar is expensive and takes a hundred years to pay back, but when parity arrives people realise it takes 8-10 years to payback, and they can then be making money out of it."

Jeremy Leggett, executive chairman of Solarcentury said, "The feed-in tariff that the government has said it will bring in from April 2010 is vital. A burst of premium-pricing for solar energy, of the kind now on offer in 18 European countries, will stimulate a very fast-growing market."

Experts said the projections were based on significant assumptions in future energy prices, which have been extremely volatile over recent years – last year saw gas and electricity prices double, but now household bills are falling again.

Ray Noble, solar PV specialist at the Renewable Energy Association, said: "The predicted grid parity by 2013 could be possible if all of the predictions, both in terms of grid electricity prices increasing and reductions in the cost of solar PV, come through. However that's a big if – any slight changes in the pricing can add further years to this date." He added that the important message is that even if grid parity slipped to 2016, the moment when solar can compete on cost is not far off.

Chris Goodall, Green party parliamentary candidate and author of Ten Technologies to Save the Planet, warned the grid parity predictions were based on unrealistic price assumptions. "This projection of residential grid parity depends crucially on continually increasing prices of conventional electricity, but I just don't see any evidence that residential electricity will cost 17-18p a kWh in 2013. The 'underlying' retail price of electricity at the moment is no more than 11p per kWh," he said.

Newman argued that China will continue to take more fossil fuel and believes peak oil will begin to bite in 2013, which will both contribute to rising prices in fossil fuel electricity.

Other parts of the world, such as Spain and California, have already achieved grid parity on the price of solar, but only for large installations rather than small scale ones for homeowners.