Why shouldn't we manufacture solar systems in Pakistan?

[Neo]

Why shouldn't we manufacture solar systems in Pakistan? ​

AIR CDRE (RETD) AZFAR A KHAN

ARTICLE (November 06 2008): Pakistan is facing the worst ever crisis of electricity shortage these days. It's becoming extremely difficult for a common citizen to pay off his/her monthly electricity bills. The bills keep soaring day by day and there seems to be no respite in the foreseeable future.

The electricity generated through the fossil fuel is very costly as its cost is linked to the cost of imported fuel. We are spending a hefty amount ($11 billion plus) on the import of oil annually to meet the country's oil requirements. Hence, there's a need to resort to other forms of generation of electricity, solar being one of them.

This article dwells on the discussion regarding production of cheap solar panels/cells in Pakistan; the problems that are holding up things, the status of our industry, why industry is not sensitised to do things, current market situation and suggestions to resolve these problems.

One thing that must be stated right at the outset is that generally it's presumed that solar energy is an expensive form of energy which is beyond the reach of the common man and it's rightly so. The next question that comes to one's mind is: How to reduce this cost? In Pakistan's environment, it's very much possible as we have all the plus points at our disposal. The only thing is that we should be able to exploit them. The strategy is given in the succeeding paragraphs.

Let's say that the government decides to venture in a big way in this form of energy. It wants to see solar panels mounted at the roof of each and every house of the country's urban and rural areas. It simply means that we would be requiring solar panels not in thousands but in millions or rather in hundreds of millions! Each solar panel utilises 100-200 solar cells which are pasted on the panel that is made of glass, generally 2 ft x 5 ft in dimensions.

Presently, a solar cell costs more than Rs 1000 if imported from abroad. Just imagine how much budget we would need to go ahead with this project! Naturally, such a huge number of solar cells can't be imported from abroad as they would be prohibitively costly.

These cells are costly because they are being manufactured by manpower that is hired by the manufacturing companies @ $45 per hour! Hence, the best option would be to manufacture solar cells in the country. But, would their manufacture really bring the cost down. The answer to this question is a big YES! See how? To manufacture solar cells in the country, we have three requirements: raw material, machinery with necessary infrastructure and trained manpower.

RAW MATERIAL As far as raw material is concerned, there are two types of raw materials used in the manufacture of solar cells, one is quartz and the other silica. Quartz is available in abundance in the northern areas of our country. People of the northern areas are raising walls of their houses utilising this raw material in place of bricks.

The other raw material silica is available in our rivers and many other places. Our bulb manufacturing companies, three of them being in the NWFP, are already using this raw material for decades. So, to venture into manufacturing of solar cells, both types of raw material is available in the country.

MACHINERY AND NECESSARY INFRASTRUCTURE But, the availability of this raw material alone would be of no consequence unless we have necessary infrastructure with arrangements for its purification, development and finally conversion to solar cells. For this purpose, we'll have to import necessary machinery from abroad. But, it would be a one-time investment only.

TRAINED MANPOWER Regarding manpower, I have no reservations in making a statement here that we have the finest and the most hard-working, skilled manpower. From my personal experience spanning over a period of 31 years, I could say with conviction that the retired personnel of the defence services who have been working on sophisticated electronics and telecommunication equipment during their service careers (preferably in the Air Force) would be the best choice for deployment on the manufacture of solar cells.

These people are highly skilled and disciplined and get retired at an early age. Shaheen Foundation, Islamabad maintains an up-to-date computerised record of such personnel who are just a telephone call away. The expertise of these people is not less than any technician deployed in the western countries for such jobs.

The only difference is that a European worker of such calibre gets US $45 per hour whereas a Pakistani worker, if he is paid $5 per hour in his own country would be the happiest man around. While starting manufacturing of solar cells, it would be advisable if we do it in collaboration with a world-renowned company as India has done in the case of wind turbines.

It had a joint venture for the manufacture of wind turbines with a company that has 26000 wind turbines to its credit! This company has a name in wind industry and its wind turbines are being used the world over! This way, we can also join hands with a world-renowned solar systems manufacturing company. We would be able to lay our hands on the latest technology in the field of solar energy and our manpower would also be trained through short orientation courses as they already possess sound knowledge and strong technical base.

By deploying our local manpower we would already be saving $40 per person per hour which would drastically reduce the cost of manufacture of solar cells. Further reduction would be effected through raw material which's available at a throw-away price. This way, the "prohibitively costly" solar panels employing locally produced solar cells would come within the reach of the common man. The energy crisis would thus be a history of the past.

THE PROBLEMS THAT ARE HOLDING UP THINGS In Pakistan, the main problem for solar energy not taking off is the absence of commitment from the government. Once, the government shows its commitment, things would be quite different. Next is absence of awareness among the general masses. This awareness wouldn't come on its own. It has to be created. The country's TV channels could divert some time for the propagation of the need for solar energy among the masses.

Similarly, the newspapers and radios can play their role in creating awareness. Another thing; if some businessman, through his innovative thinking and foresight establishes a factory to manufacture solar panels, he's not patted at his back.

It looks as if he has committed a sin! If there's a contract to be awarded for mounting solar panels on the rooftops of the houses of a village, then this businessman is not given preference over those who import these panels from abroad and do the job. It's really pathetic!

THE STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY Presently, there's one and the only one factory manufacturing solar panels in Pakistan which's located at Hattar Industrial Area near Taxila, 1-1/2 hours drive from Islamabad. But, it's producing solar panels only. Though, it has plans to manufacture solar cells as well, yet it's not possible for the company at present due to the huge cost involved.

It could be done through public-private partnership. The government must help the company financially to set up the required facilities. The infrastructure is already available. It has taken us decades and we're still engrossed in thinking mode. Let's come out of this inertia and do something practical!

THE OFFICIAL POLICIES Is there really any official policy in this regard? I very much doubt! Why? Because, had there been any official policy, then it would have trickled down to the people and made attractive for the businessmen.

THE CURRENT MARKET Due to absence of government's commitment, the market for this form of energy hasn't taken off. People are also unaware of this alternate source of energy. They want to do away with their dependence on the existing source of energy ie utilising fossil fuel. If the solar cells are made cheaper, this industry is bound to take off.

THE TARIFF RATES There should be no tariff on various products of solar energy as only then the investors would come forward and invest. Rather, fabulous benefits should be given to the investors.

HOW DO WE RESOLVE PROBLEMS?

THE PROBLEM COULD BE RESOLVED IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:-

-- AEDB should be made more effective. They say: "Seeing is believing." So, their progress must be seen and felt by everybody.

-- Cheap solar cells should be manufactured in Pakistan.

-- More factories should be installed for manufacturing solar panels in the country.

WHY INDUSTRY IS NOT INSENSITISED TO DO THINGS? The industry is insensitive to the production of this form of energy due to the high cost involved. But then somebody should answer my question too: If the cost is really that high, then how Nevarra is coping up with this high cost? It's meeting 70 % of its energy needs through solar and wind energy despite the fact that it doesn't have that much sunlight as we have!

The authorities in Nevarra must have taken some tangible measures to bring the cost down, out of which, one could be the manufacture of solar panels including solar cells in country. If the use of solar energy was that costly, then Nevarra would have abandoned this initiative long ago.

To conclude, it can be said that solar energy is one of the most viable options for Pakistan. Even countries with less sunlight are making best use of this free resource (sunlight). We, in Pakistan, aren't short of sunlight as sun shines on the entire length and breadth of the country throughout the year. We can make use of this inexhaustible resource and contribute towards meeting the shortfall of electricity.

If we don't do it now, then it would be just a matter of time when oil would be touching $200 a barrel and the World Bank would be pressing us hard to increase the electricity price by the same ratio. At that time, we would be left with no option but to grab every opportunity to generate electricity from any available source, what-so-ever!

We should opt for the manufacture of solar panels, including solar cells in the country, for which, we should establish not one but several factories for the same. We have unimaginable quantities of raw material at our disposal and our manpower is second to none.

With the availability of abundant raw material at throw-away price and the cheapest yet highly skilled technical manpower, the profits that would be accrued is mind boggling!, It's said that if enough solar panels using indigenous solar cell are installed and energy efficiencies are ensured, the home owners can receive a zero power bill!

 

[pkpatriotic]

Neo thanks for a nice knowledgeble post
Here I must pay regards to the writer of artical Mr.AIR CDRE (RETD) AZFAR A KHAN.

 

[RescueRanger]

Presently, a solar cell costs more than Rs 1000 if imported from abroad. !

Not really, Akhter Solar manufactuer and supply them in Pakistan based in Islamabad: Akhter Solar PLC

Also i know for a fact many businessess in Rawalpindi are flurishing selling PV panels with UPS systems to households due to the present loadshedding crisis. A basic system for a house costs between 10,000 - 15,000 and will power a few lightbulbs, fans, and TV incase the light goes out. This is quite cheaper compared to even the Chinese 15 HP Petrol Genny that will set you back roughly 26,000 PKR.

Anyway it was an excellent article and i just wanted to add my two cents.

 

[Neo]

We have sun thruought the year, why haven't we looked into this untabbed potential before?

Is it the compexity or maintenance of a solar generator tahts to blame or costs?

 

[DarkStar]

Solar power is too inefficient, compared to its costs. That's why it has not taken off since its initial popularity in the mid 80's.

One has to put too many panels in order to generate the electricity needed to power a home, that is more panels than the entire house put together. Especially if one considers things like A/Cs, irons and other appliances that consume lots of power.

 

[PeaceForAll]

A potential drawback of sorts is placing of array of solar cells - its called a solar farm - on lands with sun blazing down all year round - (thats all of Pakistan!!) however,I was thinking if we can have these solar cells as some floating devices over vast stretches of the ocean, we might be able to save the land as well. some older models of transport ships and such machines can be used for this purpose instead of sending them for dismantling blocks as scrap.

 

[Neo]

40% of Pakistan's soil is waste land with very dry and hot climate. Balochistan for instance can offer hundreds of thousands of acres of barren land to build solar farms in combination with windmills.

All we need is a good plan to attrackt FDI and devlop cheap local technology to make it competitive.

 

[RescueRanger]

A potential drawback of sorts is placing of array of solar cells - its called a solar farm - on lands with sun blazing down all year round - (thats all of Pakistan!!) however,I was thinking if we can have these solar cells as some floating devices over vast stretches of the ocean, we might be able to save the land as well. some older models of transport ships and such machines can be used for this purpose instead of sending them for dismantling blocks as scrap.

Fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing!

 

[DarkStar]

windmills and solar energy is not efficient. The cost in manufacturing/importing and setting up of windmills is prohibitive, compared to the energy they produce.

Pakistan's best bet is to start utilizing its vast reserves of coal, and build as many small and large coal burning power stations as possible. And faster work on the hydroeclectrical projects. Once the gas from Turkmenistan and Iran arrives, we can expand our gas burning power stations too.

 

[DarkStar]

The article above is comparing Pakistan with the region of spain called Nevarra.

This area had the problem of scarcity of resources, without any oil, gas, or coal to burn in power stations, nor any possible ways to generate efficient hydroeclectricity. For this reason, they had to go for the expensive renewable energies, in solar and wind power. They have been on this project for almost 30 years, after billions of investment. They have set acres upon acres of land for this enterprise. A single solar panel costs in teh region of 50,000 euros.

As for cutting the cost by manufacturing solar panels in Pakistan. That is laughable. We do not have the expertise to undertake that at the moment. Especially the latest patented technologies which have improved efficiency lately.

This is not the answer for Pakistan

 

[DarkStar]

Wind farms are an expensive and inefficient way of generating sustainable energy, according to a study from Germany, the world's leading producer of wind energy.
The report, which may have ramifications for the UK's rapidly growing wind farm industry, concludes that instead of spending billions on building new wind turbines, the emphasis should be on making houses more energy efficient. Drawn up by the German government's energy agency, it says that wind farms prove a costly form of reducing greenhouse gases.

It costs €41-€77 (£28-£53) to avoid emitting a tonne of carbon dioxide by using wind energy, the report says.

The study is likely to feed the bitter debate on whether Britain should continue to emulate Germany and dramatically expand its wind farm programme. Germany has the largest number of wind farms in the world, producing more wind energy than Denmark, Spain and the US put together.

The UK's wind power movement is the fastest growing in the world, with up to £10bn expected to be invested in the next five years, attracting government subsidies of roughly £1bn.

But more than 100 national and local groups, led by some of Britain's most prominent environmentalists, including David Bellamy, Sir Crispin Tickell, and James Lovelock, have argued that wind power is inefficient, destroys the countryside and makes little difference to Britain's soaring carbon emissions.

"At last. This report confirms what we have been saying," said Angela Kelly, director of Country Guardian, an umbrella group for the anti-wind-power lobby. "Wind power is three times more expensive than conventional electricity. It is a scandalous waste of taxpayers' money."

The report comes when the British government is promoting wind power as a means of getting 10% of energy need from renewables by 2010.

The German report estimates that it will cost €1.1bn to link Germany's existing wind farms to the national grid if it is to meet its target of producing 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2015.

About 800 miles of cables will have to be laid or upgraded, and power plants will have to be replaced or adapted to cope with the large fluctuations in wind-derived energy. This programme will cost each German household €16 a year, it says.

"Wind energy is expensive. That's true. You can't dispute it," Stephan Kohler, the head of Germany's energy agency told the Guardian. "Conventional methods are cheaper. But you have to do both."

In the past 15 years Germany has constructed more than 15,000 turbines, half of them in the past five years. The number is due to double again by the end of the decade.

In November British and German ministers announced plans for cooperation on alternative energy development.

The 1,034 big turbines now running in Britain produce about 700MW of electricity - about as much as one conventional power station - but in the next seven years more than 7,000MW of generating power will be installed on 73 new farms.

Last year 22 onshore wind farms with a capacity of 475MW were built, but developers are increasingly moving to shallow water off the coasts. Altogether, 9,000MW of new wind power is planned to be installed by 2010, enough to meet the government's targets.

Critics of wind energy in Germany said it would be cheaper and more environmentally efficient to insulate old houses or to renew existing power stations.

"The problem with wind farms is that you have to build them in places where you don't need electricity. The electricity then has to be moved somewhere else," Klaus Lippold, a Christian Democrat opposition MP, said.

"There is growing resistance in Germany to wind farms, not least because of the disastrous effect on our landscape."

The German environment minister, Jürgen Trittin, of the Green party, hit back, saying that the "central parts" of the report vindicated his claim that an expansion of wind energy could be done quickly and cheaply. "There are no grounds for pessimism," he said.

Last year more than 10% of Germany's energy consumption came from renewable sources, a record.

Jim Footner of Greenpeace said the German study would inevitably be used by opponents of wind power as an argument against further investment. But he remained confident that wind power was the best option for Britain's energy needs.

"You can't energy-efficiency your way out of climate change," he said. "You need to have clean forms of energy generation, and wind power is the technology that's competitive, current and it's the one that's available now."

 

[RescueRanger]

Darkstar, Excellent paper!

Cleared up a few things, Thank you!

 

[DarkStar]

Wind farms criticized as costly an inefficient in report by renewable energy group
The non-profit Renewable Energy Foundation — known for its firm stance against on-shore wind farms —warns that “political enthusiasm for wind power” does not reflect the high-cost and inefficiencies of large-scale wind farms in the United Kingdom.

While the UK Government recently released its Renewable Energy Strategy, which advocates wind power as an important component in its plan to meet renewable energy mandates set by the European Union, the REF says that relying on wind power to meet a large part of the UK’s energy needs would be extremely costly in light of the carbon savings that would be achieved.

The study notes that during winter, when demand for energy is the highest, wind farms are unable to produce large amounts of power. During times of low-output from wind farms, “conventional fossil fuel plants would need to be switched on and off as many as 23 times a month”, which would impair efficiency and reduce emissions savings.

The REF study also aims to debunk certain claims put forth by the industry. “The British Wind Energy Association sometimes claims that wind produces power for 80 to 95% of the time, but the number of hours wind produces some power is irrelevant, what matters is how much power for these hours and how much it fluctuates hour to hour,” says the REF.

Ultimately, the REF concludes that wind power works better on a small scale, and should not be promoted as realistic alternative to fossil fuel plants.

For more information about the REF paper, which has been published in the journal Energy Policy and is available for purchase, see: REF - Wind Power Study Reveals Hidden Costs and Reliability Issues

 

[Cheetah786]

windmills and solar energy is not efficient. The cost in manufacturing/importing and setting up of windmills is prohibitive, compared to the energy they produce.

Pakistan's best bet is to start utilizing its vast reserves of coal, and build as many small and large coal burning power stations as possible. And faster work on the hydroeclectrical projects. Once the gas from Turkmenistan and Iran arrives, we can expand our gas burning power stations too.

darkstar you missed the whole point of the article self reliance is what the author is after.

coal power comes at a great cost to human health(brown smog) hydroelectric plants depends on water and lets face it we don't have enough of it second solar plants come in all sizes small enough to power a house or big enough to supple power to the city and most important part no need for dependence on fossile fuels imported from other nations.

 

[Cheetah786]

Wind farms criticized as costly an inefficient in report by renewable energy group
The non-profit Renewable Energy Foundation — known for its firm stance against on-shore wind farms —warns that “political enthusiasm for wind power” does not reflect the high-cost and inefficiencies of large-scale wind farms in the United Kingdom.

While the UK Government recently released its Renewable Energy Strategy, which advocates wind power as an important component in its plan to meet renewable energy mandates set by the European Union, the REF says that relying on wind power to meet a large part of the UK’s energy needs would be extremely costly in light of the carbon savings that would be achieved.

The study notes that during winter, when demand for energy is the highest, wind farms are unable to produce large amounts of power. During times of low-output from wind farms, “conventional fossil fuel plants would need to be switched on and off as many as 23 times a month”, which would impair efficiency and reduce emissions savings.

The REF study also aims to debunk certain claims put forth by the industry. “The British Wind Energy Association sometimes claims that wind produces power for 80 to 95% of the time, but the number of hours wind produces some power is irrelevant, what matters is how much power for these hours and how much it fluctuates hour to hour,” says the REF.

Ultimately, the REF concludes that wind power works better on a small scale, and should not be promoted as realistic alternative to fossil fuel plants.

For more information about the REF paper, which has been published in the journal Energy Policy and is available for purchase, see: REF - Wind Power Study Reveals Hidden Costs and Reliability Issues

LOL British weather is a totally different then Pakistan so study you pointing out is totally irrelevant to Pakistan.and the most important part to remmeber in west is who paid for the study.


Britain leads the world on wind power

Britain was today declared a world leader in wind power generation, as the Government announced a major programme to cut the cost of off-shore wind farms.

Under the £30 million Offshore Wind Accelerator scheme, designed by the Carbon Trust, the cost of transforming wind into usable energy should be reduced by 10 per cent.

The savings would mean the cost of every kilowatt hour of electricity produced by offshore windfarms would drop from 9p to 8p.

Five international "major players" in the offshore wind industry have signed up to the plan.

Danish firm Dong Energy, German RWE Innogy, Scottish Power Renewable and Norwegian company StatoiHydro will join forces with the UK's Airtricity Developments to find ways of trimming the cost of running wind farms, and increasing the amount of electricity that each turbine generates.

It is hoped that increasing the efficiency of collecting electricity from offshore wind farms will help the UK reach its 2020 target of sourcing 20 per cent of its energy supply from renewable sources.

The UK has overtaken Denmark to become the world's leading exponent of off-shore wind farms. The achievement has been made possible after building work finished at Centrica's Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farms near Skegness.

Mike O'Brien, Minister of State at the new Department of Energy and Climate Change, said: "As the Prime Minister himself said this morning, we are now getting 3 gigawatts of our electricity capacity from wind power. That's enough to power more than 1.5 million homes. Offshore wind makes up 20 per cent of that capacity and the wind farms I am visiting today are the ones that have made the UK the world's number one for offshore wind power, knocking Denmark off the top spot."

He added: "Offshore wind is hugely important to help realise the Government's ambition to dramatically increase the amount of energy from renewable sources. Overtaking Denmark is just the start. There are already five more offshore wind farms under construction that will add a further 938 megawatts to our total by the end of next year. We are also assessing plans to increase the total by a massive 25 gigawatts in the future. That's enough electricity for every home in the country.

"This will ultimately help in the fight against climate change and further secure the UK's energy supplies - two of the goals of the new Department of Energy and Climate Change."

Offshore wind farms now have the potential to power the equivalent of around 300,000 UK homes. Wind power has been widely seen as having the most potential for generating enough energy to reduce the UK's reliance on fossil fuels.

But the cost of harnessing its power has more than doubled in the past five years, hampering its use in Britain.

Mark Williamson, director of innovations at the Carbon Trust said: "Offshore wind has huge potential to cut the UK's carbon emissions, generate thousands of new jobs and help us meet our 2020 renewable targets.

"But high costs and risks have been seriously holding back deployment. We've identified a range of opportunities to reduce costs, increase performance and improve the economic viability of offshore wind farms."

Under the new agreement the companies would take a "collaborative approach" to developing offshore wind turbines, and share the costs and risks.

The new plans include using wind turbines that cost less to install, finding better ways to access the farms while they are being built, minimising the amount of energy that is leaked as it travels from the turbine to the shore.

ScottishPower renewables director Keith Anderson said: "The enormous offshore wind resource will play a key role in meeting UK renewables targets.

"But to deploy the resource quickly we will need to overcome a number of technical issues. We therefore welcome this programme which aims to resolve these issues in a collaborative manner."

Dr Paddy O'Kane, general manager of technical services at Airtricity Developments, said the plans were "a significant step forward" but warned that further measures would be required.

"While the cost of producing energy from onshore wind farms continues to converge with energy costs from conventional power plants, advances are still required to accelerate the cost competitiveness of constructing offshore," he said.
Britain leads the world on wind power - Green Living, Environment - The Independent