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Is your boiler truly efficient?

Given that your boiler accounts for the majority of your heating fuel bill, I am sure you are constantly looking at ways to improve its efficiency.  In a typical industrial environment, even at its best, your boiler can only be 85% efficient. Do you monitor the performance of your boiler at plant load condition?  Are you aware of how these losses contribute to your boiler’s inefficiency? Radiation and Exhaust losses Start-up losses Pre & post purge losses Loss at high turn down Loss during change of loads Idle and stand-by losses Download to know more about these losses. At Aspiration Energy provide renewable energy solutions in the areas of Solar Thermal, Solar Photovoltaic, and Energy Efficiency Services. As part of our Energy efficiency services, we offer True Boiler Efficiency services that will help you uncover your actual costs on boiler. Kanchana. R Head – Operations

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Few questions; few answers (3) – FAQs on Roof Top Solar PV Plants

Capacity of the power plant Solar PV power plants are specified in KWp, not KW.  KWp means Kilowatt Peak.  Please read this link for more information. So a quote for 100KWp does not guarantee that you will get 100 units of electricity per hour. Typically a 100 KWp plant will produce 1,50,000 to 1,80,000 Units of electricity per year. The actual generation every month, week, day and hour will depend on various factors and location. 2. What are the parameters that affect actual generation? Actual delivery of energy will depend on the following parameters: Sunshine intensity:  The variation of sun\’s intensity in your location. The history of this data is available for your specific location (latitude and longitude). You can look for it in MNRE\’s database. Angle of the sun to the installed base.  We normally propose fixed tilt installation – which means modules are fixed at an angle and sunshine incident angle on the module will vary by the day. Ambient Temperature : Change in Ambient temperature affects the solar cell temperature and in turn that it will affect the power generated. You can look at the solar module specification to know the power de-rating for various cell temperatures. 3. What happens when the solar energy generated is more than what we need or if it is less than what we need? Solar energy is infirm power, and that is why, we either sync it to the Electricity Grid or have a battery back up or Sync it to a DG set. For Industrial applications, we sync with grid or DG. When the solar power generated from the plant is less than what is required by your load, the additional required energy will be drawn from either grid or DG for supplying the load. If it is more than what is required, it can be fed back to the Grid, provided you have a net meter connection. 4. Can Sunshades and porticos be used for mounting solar panels in addition to roof tops? In theory, Yes. But feasibility needs to be studied by an engineer during preliminary assessment. 5. Can the Solar plant be synchronised with Grid Power and DG Power? Yes , it can be synchronised. Check the specifications of the invertor – it should mention that it is sync-able to both DG and Grid. 6. Can AEPL do a turnkey project from design, engineering and supply to mounting on roof top, installation and commissioning, including the electrical circuit for power evacuation? Yes. The detailed scope of work will be detailed in the commercial contract. Drawings will be submitted for customer’s approval. 7. Can AEPL take care of the CEIG approval and also organize Net Metering facility? Yes. There will be a liaising fee for the same. 8. Do we need Lightning arresters in addition to what we already have in the building? If the condition of the existing arresters are OK, then additional arresters may not be required. This will be ascertained during execution. 9. Who will do the Earth pit for the Solar Plant? Separate chemical earthing up to 5ft as per standard design norms will be constructed by us as part of our execution scope. 10. Will the mounting of Solar Panels, damage the roof / weathering course? Will it load the roof? No damage will be caused because of mounting Solar panels. The additional weight of Solar panels will be within the load bearing capability of concrete and metal roofs. If customer uses Asbestos roofing or if the roof is damaged in some places, the same needs to be replaced / repaired by customer. The structural details of the mounting arrangement will be submitted for customer’s approval before commencement of the project. In case of concrete roofs, there are 2 basic approaches: Penetrative fixing of modules: In this case, sufficient care is taken in finishing the rooftop back after competing the foundation to ensure that the resultant surface is equal or better than the original surface. Dead weight:  If you are very strict that there should be no perforations, then we need to go for concrete legs which will function as weights to hold the module and structure.  We can design optimally, based on your requirements. 11. Are there are any Safety Standards for Solar Power Plant? Yes there are published safety standards for roof top solar power plants. AEPL will ensure that the supply and installation follows all the safety standards applicable. 12. Will you guarantee the no. of units produced or the efficiency of Solar Plant? Yes we can guarantee the no. of units produced per year per KWp installed. This guaranteed generation will vary from location to location. The exact guarantee figure will be incorporated in the commercial contract. In any case since the contract is based on price per KWH, if the plant produces less, the revenue is less.  Which means, there is an in-built guarantee and incentive for us to produce the most. 13. Can the Solar Panel withstand wind, rain and seismic conditions? Yes, the design takes care of all these conditions, as relevant to the city / location of installation. The structural engineering and drawings on roof top installation will be submitted for customer’s approval. This can be further validated by the customer with the help of a suitable architect  / expert. 14. What are the warranty terms? Solar PV Modules are covered under a 20 year manufacturer warranty with performance warranty with the following terms: 90% minimum rated performance in 10 years 80% minimum rated performance in next 15 years. Inverters are covered with a 5 years warranty with the following terms: As per the Manufacturer All other structures, electrical wiring and other components are covered by 1 year warranty. 15. Do you offer AMC? Yes. Please refer to our Warranty and AMC terms below: Quarterly inspection of Solar Panels,Inverters,protection circuit, cabling junction boxes,means of isolation and earthing for 5 years, 4 Visits for the entire system Staff will be trained for cleaning as to

Aspiration Energy, Blog

Free Solar Power for 18 years

Aspiration Energy is the only Solar PV (Electricity) Project Developer in India to offer 7 years BOT (@ Rs 7.00 per KWH) at the end of which you will own the system 100% and get free power for the next 18 years. We can use your factory roof top to execute power plants from 200 KWp to 2 MWp, depending on the shadow free space available. Comparison of cash flows and savings – between PPA option available in the market, with our unique 7 year BOT is explained below: (for a sample 200KWp plant) Solar PV System Workings (200 KWp Plant) Advance Deposit paid by Customer in addition to Income Tax benefit from 80% Accelerated Depreciation. Rs 16,00,000 Estimated annual generation KWH 3,00,000 Cost per KWH-During 7 year PPA (BOT) Rs 7.00 Power Purchase bill paid to AEPL Per year (Rs 7.00 X Generation) Rs 21,00,000 Balance Asset value to be paid by customer at the end of 7 years, to get 100% ownership of the Solar Power Plant. Rs 0.00 Cost per KWH after tenure Rs 0.00 for 18 years Cumulative Savings compared to PPA model* Rs 419,00,000 *Please see cash flow comparison below Customer scope : Factory Roof top Infrastructure,  Periodic cleaning of panels. Cash flow Comparison between PPA model and AEPL’s 7 year BOT model. 200 KWp Solar PV Power Plant  7 Year BOT @ Rs 7.00  PPA Model  PPA rate  with 3% Escalation  Excess Paid / Saving  Advance          16,00,000          (16,00,000)                           1          21,00,000                   16,80,000                     5.60          (4,20,000)                           2          21,00,000                   17,34,000                     5.78          (3,66,000)                           3          21,00,000                   17,88,000                     5.96          (3,12,000)                           4          21,00,000                   18,42,000                     6.14          (2,58,000)                           5          21,00,000                   18,96,000                     6.32          (2,04,000)                           6          21,00,000                   19,50,000                     6.50          (1,50,000)                           7          21,00,000                   20,04,000                     6.68              (96,000)                           8 0                   20,58,000                     6.86          20,58,000                           9 0                   21,12,000                     7.04          21,12,000                        10 0                   21,66,000                     7.22          21,66,000                        11 0                   22,20,000                     7.40          22,20,000                        12 0                   22,74,000                     7.58          22,74,000                        13 0                   23,28,000                     7.76          23,28,000                        14 0                   23,82,000                     7.94          23,82,000                        15 0                   24,36,000                     8.12          24,36,000                        16 0                  24,90,000                     8.30          24,90,000                        17 0                   25,44,000                     8.48          25,44,000                        18 0                   25,98,000                     8.66          25,98,000                        19 0                   26,52,000                     8.84          26,52,000                        20 0                   27,06,000                     9.02          27,06,000                        21 0                   27,60,000                     9.20          27,60,000                        22 0                   28,14,000                     9.38          28,14,000                        23 0                   28,68,000                     9.56          28,68,000                        24 0                   29,22,000                     9.74          29,22,000                        25 0                   29,76,000                     9.92          29,76,000 Total        163,00,000                582,00,000        419,00,000 So before signing a PPA agreement for any Solar Power Project, contact us at deepa@aspirationenergy.com or call us at (044-42185301)

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SolarMax – 2

A follow up article on our earlier post SolarMax principle One example to make a difference between LoadMax and SolarMax amply clear is to take an example of Street Lights. Let’s take a standard model – Sharp Street Light. Lets take the model: SSLL 1018 The basic light there is a 18W light. Load per day:  Let’s say the 18W light runs for 12 hours – Dusk to Dawn 18W x 12 Hours = 216 WHr is what is needed per day. Let us look at what thay have designed it with: Solar capacity:  80 W. 216 WHr / 80 W = Less than 3 hours. So, the solar street light is designed to produce enough energy within 3 hours of sunshine. Sounds great and logical – when you evaluate from a general LoadMax principle.  But, imagine this – more than 300 days a year, sunshine will be for more than 5 hours.  So, Every single day on 300 days a year, 80W x 2 = 160 Whr is wasted.  And, we pay for that generation upfront. Lets take batteries:  12 V, 75 AH.  Not to be a purist in battery design for ease of calculations – I will consider VxAH as a proxy for WHr. 12 V x 75 AH = 900 VAH or approximately 900 WHr. We observed above that the requisite WHr per day is only 216 Whr.  So, this is designed with 4 times the requisite capacity. I am not taking accurate figures.  For an application like solar street light where Hybridization with existing conventional sources of power is difficult, and where the focus is on automated reliable operations, I have no arguments against this design philosophy.  And, battery design is more to do with Depth of Discharge and life-time of batteries. But, I am taking this as an illustration of LoadMax principle. If there were backup conventional sources available – I would build this with a 50W module and 50 Ah battery – which is far more economical.  That will be “SolarMax”. One word of caution though: SolarMax immediately means that it needs to be hybrid – to take care of low generation periods of solar energy.  Wherever hybrids are not possible or feasible or desirable – we need to go back to LoadMax.

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Solar Energy Vs Solar Power – 2

In many public forums, I talk very loudly about Solar Power vs Solar Energy. I am not meaning the technical difference between Power and Energy. I am talking about what the market and general public understand.  The moment we mention “solar” – because of widespread Government side subsidies and awareness programs worldwide, people connect it with “Solar Power”, generally meaning Solar Photovoltaic plants  (PV). But, we use energy in various forms – Light, Heat, motion, cooling, and so on.  The good news is:  Solar Power a.k.a Solar PV based solar electricity generation is a high quality energy – meaning it can be converted to many other energy forms efficiently without losing much of it. Does that mean that we should always go to the high quality of energy (electricity) and then convert it to low quality energy always? Conventional wisdom says, YES.  But, solar changes this. Solar heating – at low temperature is very efficient – at 80-90% efficiency compared to paltry 13-17% of solar PV.  Moreover, costs are 50% if we compare KW capacity to to KW capacity or – KWHr generation cost to KWHr generation cost. What does that mean? We should somehow change the perception and add “Solar Energy” (to mean all forms of energy – heat, light etc) to our vocabulary rather than just “Solar Power” (“to mean electricity”). ~Bhoo, CEO, Aspiration Energy

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