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CSP vs CST

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In other words:  Solar Power vs Solar Heat Solar PV for generating electricity using Solar modules has been gaining immense attention worldwide. Small CSP? I do not believe there is an opportunity for small scale CSP.  However, a lot of micro-grids and mini-grids are coming up at rural areas in India with Bio-mass and Solar PV.  Companies like Desi Power, Gram Power, mera gaon power, OMC power,  are all doing good work in this area.  If and when small scale CSP plants become economical, they can play a role.  I am not seeing it any time soon. On the other hand, CST (Concentrated Solar Thermal) is certainly a good opportunity for Indian industry.  Some early installations are doing well.  In the mid-term I expect that to pick up. However, we are betting more on ETC based technologies without tracking in the lower temperatures of 60-150 Deg C.  Here are our reasons: CST is a relatively newer technology, and there are still technology kinks that needs to be worked out.  On the other hand, what we are doing in terms of system level and slight technology modifications of ETC collectors is just incremental innovation, and hence more reliable.  Just to give a perspective – SHIP database, as is referred by IEA (link), has identified many industrial applications across the world. Another statistic:  Against the installed base of solar PV in the world of 175+ GW.  Solar heating is more than 300 GW .  Significant share of this is ETC based technology, and hence the technology kinks of the underlying technology of evacuated tubes are fully solved, and it is proven for decades. All said and done, CST costs are higher than basic ETC based collectors KW to KW or KWH to KWH.  That is another constraint. CST collects only DNI whereas ETC at lower temperatures collect GHI, which makes ETC energy plants\’s PLF much more than that of CST.  Economics rule the roost here. ETC based plants can be implemented on factory rooftops whereas CST needs ground space or RCC roofs. These factors make us bet more on ETC based lower temperature solutions.  Coupled with the recent drop in fossil fuel prices, and the above factors, I feel CST will take longer for adoption in India compared to ETC based solar heaters for the industry.

Blog, Solar thermal

Small Renewable Projects Eligible For Priority Sector Lending in India

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The Reserve Bank of India said it will make small renewable energy projects eligible for priority financing. The nation\’s banks will offer loans of up to 150 million Indian rupees ($2.37 million) for purposes such as the purchase of solar-based power generators, biomass-based power generators and windmills, as well as for non conventional energy-based public utilities such as street-lighting and remote village electrification systems. For individual households, the loan limit will be 1 million Indian rupees ($15,800) per borrower. Under the priority lending route, banks must provide 40 percent of the net banking credit to specified sectors, according to the Reserve Bank of India\’s April 23 announcement. Vishal Pandya, director of REConnect Energy, told Bloomberg BNA April 27 that priority sector lending will bring significant traction to the rooftop solar industry, “especially for industrial and commercial consumers across states where industrial and commercial [electricity] tariffs are higher.” Wind, small hydroelectric and biomass-based projects also will benefit, he added. India has a target of installing 175 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2022 as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi\’s goal of 24-hour power supply, clean drinking water and a toilet for each household by India\’s 75th year of independence.

Blog, Solar thermal

Solar Thermal Power plant vs Solar Thermal Energy Plant

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I am asked in many forums about the delays and cost over-runs of solar thermal power plants, and how we have chosen to play in this field. Lets understand the differences: 1. Solar Thermal Power plants deliver electrical power – produce steam using sun, and produce electricity by running a power turbine using the steam. Solar heaters that we deliver directly deliver heated water into process heating systems. The sunshine is converted to heat, and used as heat energy. In Solar Thermal Power, sunshine is collected as heat, and then converted to electricity. 2. The technology that we use (ETC – Evacuated Tube Collectors) has a worldwide installation base of 175 GW. (64.6% of thw total worldwide installed base of solar heaters of 269. GW). This is comparable to 142 GW of solar power installations worldwide.  and 3.65 GW of solar thermal power plants worldwide.  Contrary to popular belief, solar heaters are HUGE and has been proven for decades. 3. Solar thermal power plants are based on optical concentrators, and the concentrating technology is relatively new, not yet fully proven.  ETC collectors have been around for more than 3 decades.  (Take an extract from session called brief history.  We need to make our own version of history, not from here.   You can learn more about ETC Collectors here. ETC is certainly a mature technology whereas concentrating solar is a relatively new field, yet to prove its mettle, while holding a lot of promise. ~Bhoo, CEO, Aspiration Energy

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IEA SHC – Task 49 – 7th Expert Meeting

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IEA SHC Task 49: Solar Process Heat for Production and Advanced Applications The Solar Heat for Industrial Processes – SHIP database has been created in the framework of the IEA Task 49/IV. This online database contains a worldwide overview on existing solar thermal plants which provide thermal energy for production processes for different industry sectors. Each plant description contains a number of information e.g. about the size of the collector field, collector technology or integration point in the production process. The user of the database has the possibility to extract detail information from all identified solar thermal plants and create statistics like the share of collector technologies, size of the collector field per country or industry sector and cost per square meter. The SHIP – database is a living platform and will grow immensely. It is a privilege to receive the invite as an expert for the IEA SHC Task 49 7th meeting happening at San Sebastian, Spain on 12th and 13th of March 2015. Aspiration Energy an early mover in mid, high temperature sector, stayed course in this pioneering area of Industrial heating and today we are proud to showcase some of our successes at IEA SHC.. What is the objective of IEA Task 49/IV? Develop and improve solar process heat collectors and components Analyze and provide new knowledge on high temperature behavior of process heat collectors and solar loops Develop a testing procedure and to provide a basis for the comparison of collectors under certain conditions Provide engineering tools for optimized heat integration and optimized planning of solar thermal integration by advanced pinch analysis and storage management Identify new applications for solar thermal energy in several production processes through the combination of process intensification technologies Develop planning tools, calculation tools for solar yields in large scale plants Gain proven solutions for stagnation behavior Install and monitor large-scale demonstration systems Develop guidelines for solar process heat To lower the barriers for market deployment Bhoo also been invited to do a presentation on “Solar Heat Integration in Industrial Processes”, organized in the framework of the joint task of IEA SHC Task 49 and Solar Paces IV on 11th March 2015. Excited on the happenings and representing India as an expert is a proud moment for us at Aspiration Energy. Will update more on the happenings after the Task 49, Expert Meet. ~Viji Suresh

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SHIP – the Noah’s Ark of energy?

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SHIP – the Noah’s Ark of energy? Solar Heat for Industrial Process – is now named as SHIP by many consortium around the world, particularly Europe. It is so economical that I feel it is aptly called as SHIP. It is like Noah’s Ark of the energy future! SHIP: Renewed focus in Europe Good to see this project. There is a lot of focus on SHIP – Solar Heat for Industrial Process – here.

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Better late than never – October 2014 events

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It has been a month since I wrote a blog post.  I noticed that there were few interesting programs I attended during the month of October and November but missed out writing about them. Thought of sharing it now,  it is better to be late than never 🙂 I attended 2 events within a span of 3 days – both focused on our field: The first was a stakeholder Workshop – II on “Vision and Action Plan for development of decentralized solar thermal in India ” on October 14, 2014 in New Delhi.  This was conducted by Shakti Foundation and Greentech knowledge solutions. Sameer Maithel, spoke about the Chasm in Industrial Process Heat. How real! How insightful! Yes, we have such huge number of leads – we are talking with who-is-who of the industry – TVS, Tata, Godrej, ITC, Mahindra, and so on. But, even in our sales cycle – it is a chasm – the technical evaluation gets over, the commercial evaluation gets over – but before it translates to Purchase Order, there is a Chasm. The chasm is one of getting all the stakeholders together and making them fully motivated to transact. I am happy to see that the industry is seeing this Chasm and making efforts to close it. We can all read this book: Crossing the chasm The second was a Workshop on monitoring, design and certification of solar process heat on 16 October 2014 in New Delhi.  This was conducted by So-Pro India. Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secreatry of MNRE attended both the sessions. This shows the growing interest in our chosen area. I am very happy that this often neglected area is grabbing attention. Both sessions talked about how we can get policy / market awareness and credibility changes to grow the market for Solar Heating. There was a significant focus on Solar Heat for Industrial Process (SHIP) So-Pro event was 100% focused on Industrial process heat. One thing of great note here – like in any business, the quality of entrepreneurs and eco-system during the initial period determines the growth of the industry. In that sense, it is great to be part of this community – the people who were present were tachnically, commercially and behaviorally so competent to understand issues, their solutions and way to take this industry forward. Great to be part of this community.

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Workshop on Renewable Energy – Solar Thermal Systems, Hosur

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It was a focused gathering of Industry Engineers and few finance persons from the industrial belt of Hosur with an openness to know details on “Renewable Energy – Solar Thermal Systems” on 18th December 2014. The workshop was conducted by Aspiration Energy in association with CSIR – CEERI. Dr. Harish Barshillia, Chief Scientist from National Aerospace Lab, Bangalore talked about various aspects of surface coatings required for Solar Systems for achieving mid and high temperatures. Surface coatings plays an important role in solar systems. He pointed out that in solar thermal systems, high quality absorber coatings are able to absorb upto 95% of the energy in sunlight throughout the spectral range whereas for photo voltaic (PV) the commercial technology available has only 20% absorption of the spectrum. Dr. Bala Pesala, Sr Scientist at CSIR, Chennai spoke about the new emerging concepts in the solar field that would be a hybrid of Solar PV and Thermal. The most awaited talk was from our ” Proud Pioneer”, Mr. Shunmuganathan, Sr. Engineer from Harita Seatings, who shared their experience and the benefits they enjoy on Aspiration Energy’s latest solar systems installed at Harita Seatings. A proud moment for Aspiration Energy. Following this, our Solar Thermal Head Mr. Manoharan and CEO, Mr. Bhoo Thirumalai presented more details about Aspiration Energy’s mission, vision, technology and financial model, “Pay as you Save” (PAYS) model.   Mr. Raman, International Business & Investment Specialist, Onefinite LLC, talked about the Energy Security and world economics on fuel. The gathering had all the perspectives that were required for opting to Renewable Energy and also responded positively that their recommendation to Aspiration Energy Solar Thermal Systems for their companies. There was a interesting interactive session with the crowd , who all later dispersed for a sumptuous lunch. After lunch, a Site visit to our Harita Seatings installation was arranged for workshop participants. ~Revathy Ramakrishnan, Marketing, Aspiration Energy

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IGMTP – Germany trip sponsored by German taxpayers

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I approached the entire program with skepticism – A Government sponsored program?  1 month?  Will it be useful?  Germany? To think a country is taking such a long term vision of their international trade relations – by taking a bunch of business people from that country and provide free training to them – Awesome! 21 companies were chosen from India for this 2014 IGMTP program.  The interview and selection process with Hanna of GIZ was a revelation of sorts – unbelievable – the questions were centered around – will this company and person benefit from the program.  As unbelievable as it it, it is a fact, and I realized it during the 1 month there. Skepticism was flowing in others’ minds too.  One of my colleagues kept asking why German Government is investing this kind of money.  They kept on repeating that it is for long term trade relations.  As unbelievable as it it, it is a fact, and I realized it during the 1 month there. Germany – will it buy superior technology from India?  As unbelievable as it it, it is a fact, and I realized it during the 1 month there. Are they trying to sell to India?  In a couple of lectures they did mention that the capacities in Germany needs new markets.  And, they are a very export oriented country.  But, the reality is, this particular program is really, truly bi-directional – not just export promotions, but true intent of trade ties in both ends.  As unbelievable as it it, it is a fact, and I realized it during the 1 month there. In this program I learnt that there are other similar programs run by other countries like Korea, Japan, etc.  But, the very interesting difference is:  Personal Business Visits.  I could choose someone / some business that is purely relevant to my business, and during this program, they sponsored me to make that visit.  Not just paying for travel and expenses, but also actually arranging for logistics, and one step further – even making calls to help fix the appointments!  As unbelievable as it it, it is a fact, and I realized it during the 1 month there. The indebtedness I feel for India to provide me with all the nearly-free education with scholarships, with this program, Germany has created in me, and I hope that I can contribute to German-Indian trade to make the program successful in the medium term. ~Bhoo, CEO, Aspiration Energy

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High temperature

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New vacuum tube collector that generates heat up to 120 deg C. Very interesting article and technology. Our combined approaches of Integrative concentration™, StayLiquid™ , FlexiFlow™ are already creating temperatures like 110 deg C in our installation in Padi, Chennai. It is doing so at least for 5 hours in a day for a minimum of 250 days in a year! Once we install scaled system of our new innovation in U-tube type ETC collectors, I am positive we can cross 120 deg C. We are hoping that this innovation above can be much lower in cost than what we can do with U-tube.

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Energy Wende

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“Sun and Wind alter global landscape, leaving utilities behind“, says The New York Times. We are just trying to get to Germany with our solar heating innovations. Energy Wende is a great term. In fact BMWi – the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy – is renamed so from “Ministry of Economics and Technology” recently. Shows such a great importance Germany gives for Energy. I am happy that Aspiration Energy is chosen for the 2014 version of the IGMTP – The German-Indian Manager training program.

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