Saturday, 31 December 2016

Instances Where Solar has been a Game Changer.

Solar power has been gaining popularity around the world as a source of energy that can be used as substitute to conventional sources like petroleum and coal in order to power our houses and local amenities. But there is still a lot of suspicion among the Indian consumers about its practicality and dependence & you can't be blamed at all because up till now solar power has been making its way into the households in isolation and there is no proper community and government collaboration to consolidate it as chief alternative power option. But Erigeron Energy as an Solar Energy procurement Company(EPC) feels it has to instil belief among the Indian Consumers especially with all the pollution and energy crisis incident going on in the National capital, where we are currently operational. Thus we will discuss about different places around the world who have been hugely benefited by robust solar power structure.  

Japan: Solar power in Japan has been spreading its roots since the late 1990s. The country is one of leading manufacturer of photovoltaic's (PV) and a large installer of domestic PV systems with most of them grid connected. With most of them being Grid connected every family is involved in a small scale business of selling power while generating power for themselves too. Japan is world's fourth largest power consumer in the world and its solar power installation is sufficient to provide for 5% of its total power needs. You might think 5% is not a big deal but think of its land area and you will rise to applaud the kind of revolution they have brought in to support their stand of a "Greener World", especially after the Fukushima in 2011. The Japanese Government has made target to reach 53MW solar PV electricity production by 2030 and are well in line to achieve it as they have already achieved 20MW by 2015.


Germany: Germany is the world's leader of photovoltaic capacity since 2005. The overall capacity has reached 36 gigawatts (GW) by February 2014. Photovoltaics contribute almost 6% to the national electricity demands. But is this so Spectacular as to be mentioned in the list of game changer? The answer is 'yes' it is simply because of its land mass and the climatic conditions in Germany. It's amazing how in the period from 2012-2014 more than 23 GW installation was done. This is the kind of aggressive approach  needed by country like ours to curb emission problems resulting in sharply deteriorating environment and to meet rising power demands.


United States: Solar power in the United States includes utility-scale solar power plants as well as local distributed generation, mostly from rooftop photovoltaics.
The United states started late with its Solar policy but the work they have done in past 2 years with the encouragement from Obama Administration is admirable. They have already clocked 27 GW in solar power production and are one of the countries that has prepared and started implementation of solar dependent energy management systems. The advantage that USA has is very identical to India because of the land mass similarity and availability of sunlight in abundance in most places. They have set a target of clocking 100 MW by 2021 and they are well in track with their proactive policies.




































Written by Suresh Kumar

About the Author : Suresh Kumar is blogger by hobby and Managing Director at Erigeron Energy Private Limited by profession. He has a deep interest in exploring renewable energy opportunities and a perfect solutions for the same.  

Thursday, 29 December 2016

Community solar : Answer to woes of power and pollution menace in Indian Cities.

Solar technology was originally developed to power satellites circling in the space orbit but soon due to rising carbon emissions, resulting in global warming and health hazards accompanied by power crisis around the world, scientists and engineers started research and development at a large scale that made solar power available for domestic and industrial use at commercial scale. But despite all scientific advancement there are roadblocks which has made it very difficult to be adopted by households. Does that means that this article is all about conceding to what cannot be done?

The answer is loud and clear and it's a big "NO". Solar power can still be harnessed and used in every possible way and application and it can only be done with the participation of each one of us in a well thought, planned and researched method of "Community Solar". One its model -mega watt solutions is already being adopted in India, but today we will get know about a more inclusive and revolutionary model and we bet it's magical how a source of energy which is free of cost, abundantly available and is perpetual, can power our home, office, schools, Hospitals, Community centres and anything you can think off.  So let's know what is community solar, how it works, what are its advantages, Is it practical for you?

As the solar energy market rapidly expands, more and more people are exploring the possibility of going solar, and the surprising part is that this phenomenon is hegemonies both in rural and urban areas. While it's not possible for everyone to install panels on their roofs, due to unsuitable roof space, rented living space or living in a large condo building, alternative business models like community solar and shared solar are gaining popularity and increasing possibilities to access clean solar energy. 

In Figure 1:( community group Purchasing)- You can see various families living in a community, purchase solar in bulk and uses and shares each other's space in order to get the best orientation and energy output.

In Figure 1:( Offsite shared Solar)- In this approach a suitable site away from the living community is used after consultation with experts, the site can either be purchased or leased. Usually there is government subsidies on purchase or lease of lands if it's being used for domestic purposes by a community. An array of solar panel is installed at this site and the power generated is used by the community which contributed in its establishment, The excess power can even be sold back to the grid and standard rates through net metering.

In Figure 1: ( multi unit building) - multiple people living in a building with just one terrace, like in apartments can invest in contribution and reap the benefits as a family.

In Figure 1: ( community Driven Financial model) - It is similar to offsite shared solar except for, in this case you take external investors and donations instead of investing from your often coffers, this model can be used by families short on liquid funds.

Community solar business models increase deployment of solar technology in communities, making it possible for people to invest in solar together. Shared solar falls under the umbrella of community solar, allowing multiple participants benefit directly from the energy produced by one solar array. Shared solar participants typically benefit by owning or leasing a portion of a system, or by purchasing kilowatt-hour blocks of renewable energy generation.

This might not sound magical to you as you see it in isolation but the kind of impact this model can have with proper government and public partnership is immense and we need to think of this kind of adoption, especially after the Level of air pollution seen in Delhi and other metros in recent times. The following picture will broaden your imagination and justify our point as even the buildings can be made of materials generating power through solar technology and although its expensive right now, price can be brought down significantly by mass adoption.


BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
By aggregating customer demand, shared solar programs and organizations like can reduce the financial and technical barriers to going solar. Instead of acting alone to purchase panels and hiring professionals to complete individual site assessments, shared solar programs divide those costs among all of the participants. This also makes it easier for participants to buy in at a level that works best for their budgets. Sitting flexibility is also beneficial to participants. Since shared solar arrays can be located on or off site thanks to virtual net metering, it allows for strategic placement on sites such as commercial rooftops, marshlands, and municipal land, which can optimize grid operations and aid local economic development.
The red tapes created by paperwork and government scrutiny makes it a challenge  but with proper marketing messages and help of agencies like ours you just have to show the motive, while we work tirelessly to make your dream of clean energy a reality by handling paperwork, assessment, presenting proposals, installation and maintenance. 

Written by Suresh Kumar

About the Author : Suresh Kumar is blogger by hobby and Managing Director at Erigeron Energy Private Limited by profession. He has a deep interest in exploring renewable energy opportunities and a perfect solutions for the same.  

Thursday, 8 December 2016

Over 1,900 parties in India, 400 never fought polls: EC

`They Could Be Conduits For Black Money'


Politics seems to be ingrained in Indians as the country has the largest number of political parties in the world, over 1,900 according to chief election commissioner Nasim Zaidi, but over 400 of them have never contested any election.
Zaidi suspected that these could be conduits for turning black money into white.

However, the Election Commission (EC) has started an exercise to strike off such parties from its list. “Striking off their names will disentitle them from income tax exemptions on contributions and donations,“ Zaidi said. Asked why the EC was not deregistering them, the CEC said deregistration was a long-drawn process.“Eventually, we may have to do that, but this is the immediate action taken by the EC on finding the anomaly,“ he said. The EC has asked state CECs to send it a comprehensive report of lists of registered parties which have never contested an election and also the contributions received by them, Zaidi said. He said that from now on, it would be an annual exercise to prune the list of registered parties.

Wednesday, 16 November 2016

More than 20 nations join India-led International Solar Alliance

The International Solar Alliance (ISA), brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, moved to the next level with more than 20 countries, including India, France and Brazil, inking its framework agreement on Tuesday on the first day it was opened for signature on the sidelines of the UN climate conference (COP22) here on Tuesday .

More countries are expected to join it formally in coming weeks. The ISA -a collective voice of sunshine rich nations --will enter into force when in the next step 15 countries ratify it after completing their respective domestic processes. It will help these countries bargain as a group for get ting access to low cost finance and technology to boost solar energy. 

The ISA was launched at the UN climate change conference in Paris on November 30 last year by Modi and French President Francois Hollande after the former had given a call to all solar rich countries to form a coalition to specifically address energy needs by tapping the power of the sun.This alliance provides a platform for 121 prospective member countries to collaborate and address the identified gaps through a common agreed approach.

Welcoming the countries move to sign the ISA framework agreement, within 11 months of its launch, India's environment minister Anil Madhav Dave said, “The ISA activities have increased significantly and many initiatives are under implementation. With legal framework in place, the alliance will be a major international body, headquartered in India.“

News Source : TOI | 16Nov2016| Wednesday


Friday, 11 November 2016

Solar vs. other Renewable Energy Sources

The world has been growing increasingly energy hungry due to host of reasons  like advancement in consumer electronics and smart lifestyle utilising monstrous amount of energy. while we consider all these as a boon to the society, the  majority of the world's current energy supply is still generated from fossil fuels such as oil ,coal and natural gas. These traditional energy sources pose a number of challenges including rising prices, Financial security concerns over ultra dependence on imports from a limited number of fossil rich countries, and ever growing environmental concerns over the green house effect causing adverse climate associated with power generation using fossil fuels. 

The cumulative effect of these and other challenges of using traditional energy sources, consumers, businesses and governments are increasingly supporting the development of alternative and renewable and non-polluting energy sources and new technologies for power generation.

Potential alternatives such as such as solar, wind power, hydroelectric biomass and geothermal have emerged in order to address some of these concerns. But the question here is which one is best suited to us and in what proportion should all these alternative energy sources be developed to reap maximum benefits ?

The two main choices for renewable energy are wind and solar if we consider an off grid or grid connect power system. 

So which is best suited for you?  wind or solar ? 

It really depends on your energy requirements and geographical locationFor most urban, suburban and rural areas and applications; solar power is usually the best choice. 

Before discussing the reasons behind the superiority of solar power over all other renewable energy sources lets use an informatics to establish that the best way forward is SOLAR.



The single most dominating factor behind solar's superiority is it abundance. Figure 1: clearly illustrates that solar energy has huge reserve that dwarfs all other energy sources including the fossils that is dominating currently and its perpetual too.
Following are some other reasons establishing solar energy superiority over all other sources:

Reduced Dependence on Fossil Fuels.    Solar energy power production is free from fossil fuel requirement and is therefore less dependent on this limited and increasingly expensive natural resource. Although the solar radiation is variable in amount and timing throughout  the day, season and year, a properly configured  and sized solar system can be designed to be highly reliable while providing fixed price electricity supply for long term.

Environmental Advantages.    Solar technology using Photo Voltaic arrays generates electricity with a very less impact on the environment as compared to other forms of electric power production. 

The first and the second points are perfectly illustrated by Figure 2.

Modularity and Scalability.    The size and the power generating capacity of a photo voltaic (PV) solar system are a function of the number of solar panels installed, thus applications of solar technology are readily scalable and versatile.

Flexible Locations.    Solar electricity production facilities can be installed at the customer site which lowers the required capital investments in production and transportation infrastructure.

Other reasons to choose solar over other energy sources are:

  • Is totally silent in operation
  • installation is quick with less cable requirement
  • Is less susceptible to lightning damage
  • Has no moving parts
  • Highly reliable and a 25 year warranty
  • less susceptible to high wind damage.
  • Requires less space in most cases as the panels can be installed on a roof.
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Written By : Suresh Kumar


About the AuthorSuresh Kumar is blogger by hobby and Managing Director at Erigeron Energy Private Limited by profession. He has a deep interest in exploring renewable energy opportunities and a perfect solutions for the same.  


Friday, 4 November 2016

Savings Through Solar

Nature has bestowed us with a tool to cut down inflation, let’s BE GRATEFUL AND REACH for Solar energy and technology.

Today the world is grappling with power crisis as the demand for power is rising sharply due to host of reasons like rapid urbanization, industrial growth and advancement in the fields of electronics and computer science that has given birth to plethora of smart devices like computer, television, smart phones, washing machines and countless other modern gadgets. As the need for more and more power aroused we started exploring multiple sources but sadly most of them are non-renewable and polluting like coal, nuclear plants and Petroleum. But as the global attention fell to the deteriorating environmental condition, we started exploring sustainable and non-polluting source of energy and thus the attention fell to the Ultimate source of Energy “The Sun”. Today solar energy is gaining popularity all over the world and is being extensively used in the form of solar water heater, solar inverter or solar power plants. But still the question for the middle class family stands lurking – Can I afford to Go solar? Is it Economically Viable? Will it add long term value? Is solar power reliable?
In this blog, we will discuss about how can we save money by cutting on our power bills and in some cases even earn profits?

Solar definitely helps you save on your electricity bills:

For sure- the biggest advantage of using solar energy is immediate electricity bill savings. No matter what is the size of your installation, you begin receiving smaller monthly bills from your local power company. But again the bigger question is how much can you save? As we live in a world where data analytics has left us spoilt with choices, Let’s try and make it more specific by understanding how the quantification of savings can be made.


The answer to “how much” depends on the following two factors:

Ø  Solar energy is a modular technology, which means you can install as many or as few panels as you like and at any point of time. For every new kilowatt of installed solar capacity, bigger electricity bill savings can be made.  With a large enough installation, it’s possible to reduce your energy bill completely. Thanks to solar energy, many people in India already pay Rs.0/- a month to their local power board.

Ø  Whatever may be the size of your installation, you are assured to increase your electricity bill savings with time. As power rates increase, clean energy from the sun remains consistently free. Solar is an intelligent investment that pays increasingly large dividends with each passing day.

The cost of solar has come down tremendously due to mass manufacturing and technical advancements, accredited to growing market demand. As the power prices are on all time high and Environmental concern is the talk of the town this is the best time to turn to solar power as a secondary power source and try to exploit this freely available, zero maintenance source.

Written By : Vinay Sood 

About the Author : Mr. Vinay Sood is blogger by hobby and Director - operations at Erigeron Energy Private Limited by profession. He has a deep interest in exploring renewable energy opportunities and a perfect solutions for the same.  




Monday, 5 September 2016

Solar Energy: The New Way of Life

Solar energy is a perpetual, highly reliable & green form of energy that gives all of us an energy efficient way to power our home, community & businesses. The understanding of solar power’s relevance & need in today’s world should be propagated right from the junior academic level, in order to boost the acceptability of this noble technology.

 However, solar can be confusing even to adults, let alone the children at junior schools due to the scale of economy & time involved with its ROI. Still, let’s try to understand solar energy basics and its importance. We all know that “energy can neither be created nor be destroyed”, It can only be transformed from one form to another and we also know that the sun is the ultimate source of energy which means if we use and tap its potential, solar energy can be instrumental in solving the current energy crisis. Solar energy generally refers to a conversion of radiations into electricity, as this is the most common and viable practice.

Sunlight falls on the Solar Panel made up of semiconductor material where atomic elements like electrons show activity; as a result electricity is produced in proportion to the incident radiation. It is really simple and awesome that solar power can be used to power anything from calculators, road signs to bigger things like buildings, planes and your home.

Now the question, which arises, is that how can this noble Technology be used to bring practical and sound ground changes in the energy sector?

The answer to this is that we need to lower our dependence on fossil fuels at places where Renewable Sources like solar can be brought into effective use like lighting houses, Commercial buildings, Stadiums and even generate commercial power at solar power stations. Fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum oil cause damage to our environment with Harmful emissions like CO, SOX etc. Not only that, its depleting reserve make it a precious entity whereas solar energy is abundantly available. In order to use this abundantly available source energy, we need to put solar panels on our roof so that whenever sunlight falls on the panel it is directly converted into the energy that can be used at home i.e. electricity.

When we go solar, we produce energy for ourselves, which means the bill will be a lot lower and with lower bills we can indulge in more fun things like going on a family vacation, watch a movie or going to a restaurant.


Thus, we can say using solar panel save our hard earned money and helps in saving the planet too.

Go Green: Meaning & Relevance for GenXY


Go Green­ these two words have been most written, talked about & in most cases most abused these days. Information channels like the Internet, television, Radio or human channels like NGOs & government, each one of them has something to say about this topic on a regular basis. But after so much of clamour around, it feels “All show & no go”, when we see the ground reality.

Going Green means taking steps to improve or at least preserve the state of our planet. The much-hyped industrial revolution has done plenty of good in terms of technological advancement of our generation and those to come but has also caused irreparable and immense damage to the environment in the process.

If you continue to be on the same path and continue to use the resources rapidly and haphazardly, the nature will ruin to the state of not being able to restore it back to its healthy self.

Thus, we as elements of the civilization and children’s of mother earth should mend our ways and do anything, whether it is small or big to help earth “go green again”.

There can be countless ways by which we can contribute, like:
● Use the principal of 3R’s ­ Recycle, reuse & reduce in your daily life by using recyclable or biodegradable products, & by mitigation the amount of waste we produce.
● Not taking your car when not necessary or carpooling.
Using less electricity or use some renewable source of energy like, solar & much more.

Acts like these seems to have negligible effect individually but when we club it together we billions of people around the globe it forms an immense sea of change both on the global footprint as well as the quality of standard of living.

But if this is the case, why are people still not convinced and are living the same way they use to live 300 years ago, because people come to think of it on two fronts scientific & economic & both of them take time to show results & today’s generation is impatient. Scientifically, people think, “ ok my daily activities are causing Global warming, Air pollution, Ecological imbalance, Rise in the water level etc.”

Feels remorse and resolve to be better but within hour’s turns back to their usual way saying, “ life is still going on why should I worry”. Economically, people think “ yeah! It might save me some money down the line in 5 years time, if I use solar energy to light my house but why should I pay the hefty starting amount, I am ok with this conventional source of energy. Which goes on to show that there is still not much information and knowledge centers to convince people to Go Green.

It will require even bigger media attention, community awareness camp modeled as the UIDAI camps and most of all much developed ecological conscience of modern world. Ecological conscience should be deep rooted in young as well as grownup minds, constantly warning us of how grave is the threat we face.

We should realize that we couldn’t improve the earth unless we change our habits & mindsets and thus require overhauling the mindset of the society as whole. Renewable energy sources like sun, water and wind all have great potential to fulfill current and future energy demand by causing zero damage compared to the prevalent fossil fuels and by using them we could be doing great service to the earth and our future generations.

To know more about solar, please login to http://erigeronenergy.com/

Monday, 22 August 2016

Wind and solar deliver record year for global renewables in 2015

ReNew Economy has a summary of the latest REN21 global status report on renewable energy - Wind and solar deliver record year for global renewables in 2015.
It has been a good year, with solar power continuing its exponential growth - on track for 100% of our energy supply by 2030.
The article notes that 147GW of renewable generating capacity was added worldwide, marking the largest year-on-year increase ever and taking the total global share of renewables to just under 20 per cent of final energy consumption.





Disclaimer : Above Blog data is based on inputs powered by Big Gav in exponential growthren21renewable energysolar power. This content has been used for purely information purpose for generic public and educative content in nature and does not claim any kind of ownership or intellectual property rights.