Irresponsible and unethical article of Business Recorder on “Business of Solar energy appliances gains momentum” published on 6th Feb 2018

Business recorder recently published an article on solar energy on 6th Feb 2018, "https://epaper.brecorder.com/2018/02/06/3-page/698193-news.html" which clearly shows the incompetency of reporting solar technology related news and following is the counter response of this article.

As in current time it is true that solar and other alternate energies are gaining momentum and people are getting more knowledge and many of them are interested to install but to reach the ultimate goal of either savings or get rid of load shedding, it requires proper technically certified engineering approach to analyze the customers load and propose an appropriate power plant.

The media must properly research the technology and refer from the certified persons who know the integration of renewable energy with or without grid and its economics as well. Not only in this article but others as well especially in social media or internet, wrongly proposing the estimates and sizing of the solar system which are not only damaging this market for general public, honest businesses and market but also severely creating an ambiguity in society which will eventually destroy the image of Renewable Energy systems especially in the business sector.  Same chaos were happened around couple of years ago when CM Punjab Shahbaz Sharif misunderstood the technology and told in the press conference about “100 MWs Qauid-e-Azam Solar Power Plant” that it generates 16 MWs because this technology owns 16% efficiency. Now here in the above mentioned article (Business Recorder) as well, the proposed system and its economics for running the mentioned load are not valid as per standards of the designs.

In Pakistan, generally many people who aren’t associated with technology not aware about its working, quality and economics due to which they come under the hawks of salespersons. Mostly in Pakistan, the un-certified businesses initiated this business just as a trader and now become installer who only focuses on sales rather than standards of the designs of renewable energy system.

To run 4 normal fans, 8 LEDs of 25 watts for daytime and with 4 to 6 hours of backup, it requires far bigger capacity than 4 panels of 150 Watts system because the load need an extra energy during the charging time and which is not enough in the 4 panels of 150 Watts system.  Here, it is important to know that the renewable energy is very intermittent so the system must have the capacity to harvest the required amount of energy to run the load for the duration customer asked for. Moreover, the certified designers also not matching the rated capacities mentioned on the products with the load but importantly considers the real operating conditions throughout the year in different seasons in worst conditions so that to run the system for many years atleast to reach the payback time without another partial investment due to failure of the system before reaching the payback time.

The cost of Rs 52,000 to Rs. 60,000 for such system clearly shows its low grade quality as proper designed system cost is far expensive then this costing. Even Chinese system cost for running such load will also be too higher than Rs. 52,000 or 60,000. The worst impact felt by honest businesses and certified solution provider who are now receiving calls from public especially from corporate sector that they are wrong and considering this article (Business Recorder) true picture of the solar system which in real is not.

The payback period of 3.5 years is not realistic and should not be comparable with the warranty of 10 or 25 years solar panels. As the payback period varies as per customer paying tariff but currently the normal payback periods for good Chinese system for residential customers are around 5 to 7 years and for commercial customers, it is around 4 to 6 years which are also highly depends on the supplier/installer, customer use of grid electricity or other sources of energy like Gensets. These payback periods also disturbs if there is a replacement of inverter or batteries (in offgrid system) either in 3 or 5 years of time and which again depends on the inverter or battery quality/standards and manufacturer.

Another wrong approach in the published article is the cleaning time of solar Panels which they wrote “It only needs to keep them relatively clean, so cleaning them a couple of times per year will solve this.” This is not true at all and newspaper or writer or editor should apologize for such publishing because cleaning should be atleast once in a week or better if every couple of days due to our dusty or polluted environment. If the system not cleaned properly once in a week, it could lower down its energy conversion and affects the savings and payback periods. The writers, chief editors and media must research and refer the topic from relevant certified individuals to prepare an article otherwise wrong message will spread and which is destroying an image of the noble natural bounty particularly towards innocent unaware people of third world regions.

As a reliable person, I strongly recommend the readers, businesses and general public as well to get the realistic solution from the businesses or individuals who should be nationally or internationally certified in “Renewable or solar Energy integrated with grid Electricity” especially they should proof their qualification and understanding of “weather resource/change” rather than just only relying on software and only Renewable Energy expert can analyze it properly. This is all  because in real solutions, such type of installations require initial heavy investment of the customer’s hardworking career earnings but if properly designed by certified experts will give customers substantial continuous savings in years to come.

So don’t give your luck and painstaking earned wealth in the hands of individuals who are not sincere with the technology but just sincere with their own businesses.

(Asif Jehanzeb K.)