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Green "Power" Market Development Group at Hotel-Hilton

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When they named it as Green \”Power\” Market Development Group, I was skeptical.  Solar Energy vs Solar Power – the long standing debate,  came to my mind.  But, they invited me to talk about Solar Heat, and actively listened. Overall, the audience was appreciative of the different direction that we are taking in terms of solar heaters for the industry. Some myths of solar thermal, mistaken with Solar Thermal Plants was raised, and I am happy to dispel them.  My take on  \”Solar Thermal Power vs Solar Thermal Energy\”. ~Bhoo, Aspiration Energy

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Raise up and bring down!

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The Step-up, Step-down trap… This is the way the most energy systems in the world are built today – Electricity grids take the voltage all the way up to 11 KV (11000V), 33 KV (33000V) and 66 KV (66000V). Your home consumption may be at 230V (India) or 110 V (USA) and so on. But, we use a transformer next to the consumption point and step it down. Same way, many companies run long steam lines or thermic fluid lines that are generated in a central boiler plant – at 150 Deg C to 250 Deg C. This high temperature steam/thermic fluid pipe is very similar to the high voltage grid. But, the end use is usually at lower temperature levels. Much like our electricity – where our usage voltage is low. Say, metal pre-treatment is at 60-70 Deg C. Washing is at 50 Deg C and so on. If we can interrupt it at lower temperature level and produce energy, why should we not do it? That is what we have done in our Wheels India Padi installation. We stop the high temperature thermic fluid lines, and instead run the low temperature process using solar heaters that produce the requisite lower temperatures.

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Solar Energy Vs Solar Power – 3

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Credit: Ron Tandberg My earlier blog post talks about Solar Power and Solar Energy and recommends to add Solar Energy to our vocabulary. But, the revolutionary change that we pride ourselves with – is to specify solar heaters in terms of power KWth instead of in terms of energy – Litres Per Day – LPD.  Oxymoron! LPD – Litres Per Day vs KWth Solar heaters have been traditionally specified as LPD meaning – Litres Per Day.  Why? The traditional solar heaters have been worldwide used in domestic water heaters.  When do we need hot water at home?  Mornings.  Does the sun shine in the mornings?  No.  So, essentially, we are collecting sunlight and solar energy that shone yesterday and using it today.  In that scenario, it is good to express the capacity as LPD – How many useful Litres of hot water can be generated per day. LPD essentially represents the energy collected throughout the day. LPD vs KWth – how to represent the size of solar heaters? But, when it comes to Solar Process Heating systems, we need to work on generating the high temperature required consistently during the day.  That means, we need to have the “power” to heat requisite quantity of water instantly using solar generation. That is why we specify our collectors in terms of KWth! Here are other articles that talks about KWth rating of solar heater collectors. Methodology to present the installed capacity of solar collectors in GWth Simple method for Converting Installed Solar Collector Area to Annual Collector Output ~ Bhoo, CEO, Aspiration Energy

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Solar Energy Vs Solar Power – 2

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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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