Tawanai

Pakistan Ministry of Water and Power would provide electricity to around 100 villages through solar energy during this year as part of its programme to ensure light in every village of the country. Electrification through Renewable Energy Technologies in remote and off-grid villages of country is the prime focus of the government which has initiated projects not only to overcome power shortage but also to electrify the remotest parts, said an official at the Ministry.

The official said a project has already been approved to electrify 400 remote villages of Sindh and Balochistan through solar energy. Around 49 villages (3000 households) have been electrified in district Tharparker using solar energy through government own funds.

The funds for remaining work in Sindh and the projects in Balochistan are being negotiated with the donors and are expected to be initiated during this year. Moreover, 100 Solar Home Systems in three villages of district Dera Bugti, 119 Solar Home Systems in 10 villages of Deh Tiko Baran district Jamshoro, Sindh and 200 Solar Home Systems in 16 Villages of district Khuzdar, Balochistan are also being installed through which thousands of people would be facilitated.

The official said in view of the electricity crises in the country the government has given a serious thought to both short and long-term measures. Public sector hydro plants with generation capacity of 347 MW will be added to the system at a cost of US $500 million and 1,700 MW of high efficiency public sector thermal generation would start generation between end 2010 and upto 2012. The outlay for these projects is estimated as US $1.5 billion.

Read more…

Consumers, Electricity, Energy, Pakistan, Renewable Energy, Solar, power

South Africa’s power supplier Eskom Holdings Ltd. generates nearly all the nation’s electricity at some of the world’s cheapest rates. That arrangement has allowed global mining giants to extract vast amounts of gold, platinum and coal from South Africa’s earth and to keep electricity affordable for the poor.

But the state-run utility says artificially low electricity rates have left it with dangerously low generating capacity, leaving the country vulnerable to power cuts.

It is proposing raising tariffs 35% annually in each of the next three years—current and former Eskom executives warn anything less will threaten the company’s ability to provide a steady supply of electricity.

The proposal has brought a barrage of criticism from politicians and consumers, fanning concerns about inflation and imperiling the recovery of Africa’s biggest economy. On Wednesday, government regulators are set to decide on its rate-increase proposal.

Via: WSJ

Buildings, Electricity soccer, south africa

One of the trends for saving energy is that of energy monitoring at home or work. Companies are planning to launch wireless energy dashboards that will sit in your home, monitor energy data from your electricity meter and let you know if you’re being an energy hog. As reported by Earth2Tech:

While tech firms have been trying to sell you on the “digital home” for years — complete with wireless networks that can do everything from control your entertainment equipment to operate high-tech security systems to roast a chicken — the new energy management firms are keeping it simple by using low-cost hardware and open standards to monitor energy data.

This year is particularly important to these mostly young companies, as President Obama has pledged to help utilities install 40 million more smart meters (basically digital meters that create a 2-way connection with the power grid and the utility). Smart meters installed at homes can unleash data about the fluctuating price of electricity throughout the day, enabling consumers that have energy management tools to shift energy consumption to the time of day when power is cheapest. For utilities, that can mean better management of the power grid and eliminate the need to build out expensive power generating systems.

A half-dozen companies are launching their first energy dashboards this year, and a few others are starting to gain traction with already available online tools. One of the biggest differences between these firms is whether companies will sell directly to the consumer or to utility partners for upcoming smart meter rollouts. Several of the already-available options for consumers bypass smart meters and utilities and just help the interested consumer with a standard electricity meter. They’re cheap and available online, but they provide less detailed data.

Conservation, Electricity, Energy

Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) recently inaugurated its new 220 MW (megawatt) Combined Cycle Power Plant located in Korangi. The plant, owned and operated by the KESC, has been completed with an investment of Rs 16 billion. It consists of four latest, state-of-the-art high-efficiency gas turbines, one steam turbine and other plant equipmentNote that Abraj Capital assumed management control of KESC in late 2008. The current deficit of electricity in the system stands at around 3,500 megawatts. The KESC has started pre-construction activities for a new 560 megawatts combined cycle power plant at Bin Qasim which would be functional in one and half year

All the big shots, Prime Minister,  Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Education Minister Mazharul Haq and others were also present on this occasion. The Prime Minister said that a mix of moderate generation capacity projects like Duber Khwar, Jinnah Low Head Mianwali, Nandipur, 3 Chashnupp, 121 Mega Watts Allai Khwar, Bhikki Power Plant and Liberty Power Tech are some of the prominent power projects in thermal, nuclear and hydro sectors.

Prime Minister said that theft of electricity and non-payment of dues are the biggest reasons of bringing this sector under crisis. “It is a vicious cycle which affects investment in the system and needs to be broken through building better coordination among all stakeholders in the city of Karachi,” he added.

Read more…

Electricity, Energy, Infrastructure, Natural Gas

The minister for water and power Pakistan said the cabinet decided to adopt all the 11 recommendations of the ADB that took about five months to complete its third part audit of the rental power projects. He said the electricity rates would go up by 6.1 per cent if eight RPPs of 1,156MW were implemented as advised by the ADB, but the increase could go up to 9.9 per cent if 14 RPPs of 1,994MW were realised. He, however, agreed that the increase did not take into account the impact of oil that was a pass-through item and its prices could not be estimated.

He said the ADB had also asked the government to remove inconsistencies in RPP contracts if legally possible, to strictly enforce contract timelines and to get their commercial operations certified by internationally acceptable independent engineers.

The ADB had said that the elimination of 100 per cent loadshedding during peak hours was not a viable option from the affordability perspective, he said. The bank had also called for quality controls of old and used RPPs strictly under the trade policy, optimum utilisation of available gas and find new resources aggressively and must continuously run RPPs till 2012 to provide room for improvement in Wapda’s generation plants, he added.

Electricity, Pakistan

During the current winter season, traders are dispatching bulk of their import of generators to Punjab where power outages, spanning from 15 to 18 hours has pushed its sales to substantial level. The demand for generators in the retail and wholesale markets of Karachi have plunged to more than 70 to 75 percent during the last few months.

The traders attributed decline in demand to short duration of load shedding and declining purchasing power of city general consumers.

“Poor response by people of Karachi during the current winter season towards purchasing generators have spelled gloomy business prospects for the traders majority of which have turned their attention to Punjab to get rid of the stuck up stocks” Khurrum Saigal, president Pakistan Machinery Merchant Group (PMMG) said.

He said poor sales of all kinds of generators available in the market was reported by most of the traders ranging from one kv of Chinese origin Lifan to 2 kv of Meiji company.

Referring to the overwhelming response of Punjab market regarding boost in sales of generators, he said the positive business opportunities have compelled large number of Karachi traders to market and dispose of their products before end of the winter season thus enabling them to place new import orders before start of the next summer season.

Traders and importers claimed during corresponding period of previous year, generator sales in both retail and wholesale markets was encouraging as substantial number of buyers purchased different brands of generators.

The traders are facing bleak prospects at one of the largest wholesale generator market in country at Shahra e Liaquat Karachi as sales of imported generators from China, are preferring to sale their stuck up imported generators in the vast Punjab market, where prolonged load-shedding hours have turned lives of people miserable.

Consumers, Electricity

I came across this news about Electric scooters and thought that they would be great for Pakistan and India. Electric cars may grab headlines in international media, but in China electric scooters, bikes, and other two- and three-wheeled vehicles are big business, and could make a significant dent in the country’s emissions. VentureWire reports exclusively on a $9 million investment by Cybernaut (China) Investment in a Wuyi, China-based light vehicle and scooter manufacturer.

“It’s a segment that’s growing much faster than other electric vehicles,” Min Li, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Yuanta Securities, tells VentureWire. “This already is the first consumer adoption of the EV concept in China.”

Consumers, Electricity elecrtric scooters, transportation

Google has asked for approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to become an electricity marketer, essentially giving it the authority to buy and sell bulk power at market prices, just the way large utilities and energy traders do. Via WSJ.

Google’s power usage is unclear; it doesn’t disclose how many data centers it operates or where each is located. Last April, it said its data centers were the most efficient in the world, so far as it was able to determine, but declined to say how much power it actually uses.

Rich Miller, editor of Data Center Knowledge, an online publication that tracks the data center industry, says he has identified about 24 Google data centers. He says it is common for large centers run by Internet companies to consume 30 to 50 megawatts of energy capacity.

Google’s largest data centers could use even more. A data center consuming 10 megawatts is about what a subdivision of single-family homes consumes. Based on an estimate of 24 large data centers, Google’s energy need would be roughly equivalent to the output of two large conventional power plants.

In 2007, Google announced its intention to become “carbon neutral,” meaning it would take actions to neutralize the effects of carbon dioxide produced in the course of furnishing its buildings and data centers with electricity. It installed a 1.6-megawatt solar array on its headquarters building and has been trying to obtain green power, when available.

If its FERC request is granted, “we could go directly to a renewable energy project and buy power for our operations,” says Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick. The company also wants the ability to enter into contracts for carbon offsets.

Google’s FERC application could also potentially allow the company to play a much larger role in energy markets, even becoming a wholesaler of electricity to other big buyers.

In its application, the company said it was reserving for itself the right to “act as a power marketer, purchasing electricity and reselling it to wholesale customers,” and trading “in the bulk power markets, such as arranging…transmission and fuel supplies.”

Buildings, Electricity, IT, power

Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) has plans to provide electricity to 7874 remote villages in Sindh and Balochistan. About 6,968 of these villages are located in Balochistan. According to P&D sources, the National Rural electrification programme is the main project being implemented by Wapda to provide electricity to the villages of all the four provinces in the country.

The Solar Energy projects are to supplement the initiatives of the Wapda and is proposed to be implemented in the areas where electricity cannot be supplied through national grid due to technical, financial and economical hindrances, the sources added.

They said that the villages selected for supply of electricity through renewable energy technologies are located beyond 20-km radius of national grid and therefore provision of electricity through renewable energy technologies is the only solution.

A programme for electrification of remote villages of Sindh and Balochistan through solar energy was prepared by Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) on PM’s directive, they added. AEDB, they said developed four PC-1s for Rural Electrification through renewable energy in Sindh and Balochistan costing Rs 1167.73 million, which were approved by the CDWP on March 21, 2006.

Source: Business Recorder

Consumers, Electricity, Energy

Everybody’s rooting for wind and solar power. How could you not? But wind and solar are use-it-or-lose-it resources. To make any kind of difference, they need better storage.

Source: AEP

Battery packs located close to customers can store electricity from renewable wind or solar sources and supply power when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. Energy is collected in the storage units and can be sent as needed directly to homes or businesses or out to the grid.

Scientists are attacking the problem from a host of angles—all of which are still problematic. One, for instance, uses power produced when the wind is blowing to compress air in underground chambers; the air is fed into gas-fired turbines to make them run more efficiently. One of the obstacles: finding big, usable, underground caverns.

Similarly, giant batteries can absorb wind energy for later use, but some existing technologies are expensive, and others aren’t very efficient. While researchers are looking at new materials to improve performance, giant technical leaps aren’t likely.

Lithium-ion technology may hold the greatest promise for grid storage, where it doesn’t have as many limitations as for autos. As performance improves and prices come down, utilities could distribute small, powerful lithium-ion batteries around the edge of the grid, closer to customers. There, they could store excess power from renewables and help smooth small fluctuations in power, making the grid more efficient and reducing the need for backup fossil-fuel plants. And utilities can piggy-back on research efforts for vehicle batteries.

Via WSJ

Electricity, Energy, Solar, Wind battery packs, Lithium ion