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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Sunlight into Power By Antonio C. Abaya Written October 20, 2004 For the Philippines Free Press, October 30 issue With the price of oil going through the $50-per-barrel barrier in the New York and London markets, and the likelihood of even higher prices looming in the coming winter months as demand for heating oil shoots up, the search for alternative energy sources keeps recurring like a song. The Philippines had its first garbage-into-power generating plant inaugurated at the Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City last month. (See my article �Garbage into Power�, Oct. 7.) This week, the country�s first large-scale solar farm, the largest of its kind in the entire developing world, will be inaugurated in Barangay Indahag, Cagayan de Oro City, a joint project of the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co. (CEPALCO) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) through its executing agency for this project, the International Finance Corp. (IFC), the private arm of the World Bank. Solar energy panels are not new in the Philippines. The German government funded experimental solar energy stations in several powerless islands in the past decades. USAID has had a similar project in the ARMM. But this is the first time that a large-scale solar farm has been put together to generate power that is fed into a major grid. The CEPALCO-GEF solar farm in Bo. Indahag has 6,480 polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules (made in Japan by the Sharp corporation) covering a two-hectare area. The system has an installed capacity 1,082 kilowatts of direct current at 400 volts. At ideal sunlight conditions, it generates more than 950 kilowatts. This output is then converted by an inverter into alternating current at 220 volts. A sub-station transformer steps up the voltage to 13.8 kilovolts and feeds the current into the CEPALCO distribution system. There are no moving parts and there are virtually no operation and maintenance costs. The system turns itself on when sunlight strikes the solar panels, and turns itself off when there is no more sunlight. If the solar farm were connected directly to a community, instead of its energy being fed into the grid, it could energize some 770 average homes every month. In the near future, the solar farm will be run in tandem with CEPALCO�s 7mw hydro plant on the Bubunawan River. This conjunctive operation will be the first of its kind in the world. But solar energy is still expensive, compared to energy generated by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, diesel or natural gas. The rule of thumb for estimating the cost of power plants is one million dollars for every megawatt of capacity. The CEPALCO-GEF solar farm, with a capacity of a little less than one megawatt, cost $5.3 million, making it more than five times more expensive in capital cost than a comparative diesel- or gas-powered plant. But since there is no fuel cost and very little operating cost, the cost of the energy that it generates will OVER TIME match the cost of the energy from other sources. But will solar energy ever replace fossil energy as the main source of power in the future? Very unlikely. Unless there is a quantum leap in the efficiency of photovoltaic material or in the design of solar panels, the vast expanse of real estate needed to generate one unit of electricity would prevent solar energy from ever becoming the main power source for urbanized towns and cities. Moreover, solar energy is totally dependent, of course, on sunlight. At night and on cloudy days when there is little or no direct sunlight, there is also little or no output. Wind energy is equally intermittent. For countries with active volcanoes, like the Philippines, geothermal energy holds greater promise. But even geothermal energy has its downside: tapping it sometimes releases poisonous hydrogen sulfide. For better or for worse, the world will continue to be dependent on fossil fuels, even when and until the price of oil reaches, perhaps, $200 per barrel. Oil is just too cheap and more readily available than the alternatives. But the finiteness of supply is underscored by the fact that the known reserves are declining as fewer and fewer new oil fields are discovered, while demand escalates with the fast industrial development of China and India. Sooner or later, the world will have to kick its dependence on fossil fuels or carbon energy, and switch to the more abundant energy available from hydrogen. Fuel cells are the energy source of the future. ***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles at www.tapatt.org. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Sunlight into Power� Mr. Abaya, I know the technology and know-how is here because a plant outside of metro manila is manufacturing the substrates for the solar cells. These are then exported for assembly as solar panels. Jojo Vicencio, [email protected] October 26, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Abaya, I forwarded your article to one of my friends. He happens to work for PNOC and here is his reply. jojo rsavella <[email protected]> wrote: To: From: "rsavella" Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 08:53:52 +0800 Subject: Re: [NEW dbmhs 71] Fwd: Sunlight into Power Jojo, Solar, wind, ocean currents and other forms of renewable sources of energy are conceptually good - but still expensive, which Juan de la Cruz cannot afford at this time. Even geothermal energy, which supplies around 20% of our energy is more expensive than fossil fuels. Kaya lang marami tayong steam. However, with oil at over $55/barrel (and it is not yet winter), these other sources of energy looks good on paper. Nuclear is good but is out of the question because the constitution won't allow it. Hydroelectric is the cheapest but unacceptable to those who will be displaced - you will be wiping out towns for the dam. Even goethermal exploration is now a sunset industry. We are running out of volcanoes to explore. No all volcanoes can generate steam or even if there is steam, a lot are acidic. At the end of the day, oil and especially natural gas would still be the main sources of energy for the next years or at least during our lifetime. In the meantime, I will still look for that resource and not rest until I have made my first discovery. Dodo wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony: The idea of solar energy should have been explored a long time ago instead of a nuclear reactor to generate the energy needs of the country. The country is awash with unobstructed sunlight 24/7, 360. Photovoltaic solar cells to light communities, buildings and houses have been in used in the US and in Europe. The cost is very much less than fossil fuels and solar energy could be stored. For a country whose cash resources are not improving that much and sustained through continuous foreign borrowings, an efficient and inexpensive way to acquire energy to light homes and offices makes a lot of sense. Nestor Baylan, [email protected] New York, October 26, 2004 MY REPLY. Sorry to disappoint you, but as my above article stated, the cost of the one mw solar farm in Cagayan de Oro is five times that of a comparable-sized plant using fossil fuels. Furthermore, storing the power generated by solar energy into a battery or batteries would add to the cost. At present, solar energy is applicable only to isolated communities and/or small islands. It is not feasible as main energy source for large towns and cities. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO . |