Tawanai

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

Cross Post from TelecomPk.net

Telecom companies in Pakistan are one of the major power consumers and in addition to the increasing cost of electricity, they also face the challenge of lack of access to the electricity grid in rural areas to supply power to base stations. A few pilot deployments of  solar powered base stations were luanched earlier.Now Telenor Pakistan and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) have signed an agreement that will provide NSN’s off-grid site solutions that use solar energy to power Telenor base station sites in rural and remote areas. This is expected to result in substantial cost savings for Telenor Pakistan along with the social benefits that come with using renewable and clean energy.

Nokia Siemens Networks will design the sites, taking into account local solar mapping, site landscape and other factors to maximize the use of an abundant, clean, and natural energy source. Nokia Siemens Networks’ Green Energy Control will help deliver a sustainable solution while optimizing operating costs.

The solar-powered sites will be implemented using Universal Services Fund (USF) that was awarded to Telenor Pakistan in 2009. USF-based contracts aim to provide access to mobile services for underserved and unserved areas of Pakistan. Telenor Pakistan, till now, has been awarded three USF contracts for Mirpurkhas, Malakand and Bahawalpur region.

“It’s important that we connect the world in such a way that not only maximizes benefits for consumers and businesses, but also ensures the welfare of our planet,” said Saad Waraich, the Pakistan country director for Nokia Siemens Networks. “Providing communications to rural areas will become increasingly important and we believe renewable energy will be the first choice for such installations. In fact, the majority of base station sites installed by us by 2011 will use this form of energy. We are especially proud to partner with Telenor – a definite trend setter for the use of environmental technologies in network expansion.”

The GSMA has estimated that more than 75,000 new off-grid sites will be built each year through 2012 in developing countries. About 80% of the energy in a typical mobile telecommunication network is consumed by base stations. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power offer a reliable alternative to sites with limited or non-existent electrical grid access. Nokia Siemens Networks has already deployed more than 360 sites that exploit renewable energy and has over 25 years of experience in implementing solar-powered sites.

Source: Nokia Siemens Press Release

Clean Technology, Consumers, Electricity, Energy, Pakistan, Solar, power base stations, nokia siemens network, off-grid, telenor

Dawn has posted a story about illegal power connections in Karachi. The power theft has been a huge problem for the longest time and no one has had the courage to stop it.

There are over 650,000 illegal electricity connections in Karachi, hooked directly into main power lines, and this is one of the main reasons behind long bouts of loadshedding in the city.

This was stated by Minister for Power Raja Pervez Ashraf in reply to a supplementary question by MQM’s Khushbakht Shujaat.

The government, Mr Ashraf said, was trying to improve the system by registering criminal cases against people stealing power.

Mr Ashraf said: “Only during the past nine months, we have registered around one million criminal cases of stealing electricity across the country.”

Recently, he said, the ministry had dismissed 43 officers found involved in electricity theft.

If the government could not handle line losses in major cities like Karachi, how could it cope with electricity theft in rural areas, Mr Kishan Chand Parwani of the PML-Q asked.

Jamshed Dasti, PPP MNA from Muzzafargarah, said that he had received several complaints of over-billing in his constituency, which Wapda transferred to small consumers to hide its own negligence.

The minister said that any discrepancy in electricity bill could immediately be corrected at a Wapda complaint cell.

Consumers, Electricity, Pakistan, power

The Water and Power Ministry has received an appalling 15.6 percent of total budgetary allocation for the first quarter of the current year, an amount that flagrantly disregards the critical contribution of this ministry to not only national output, but also to serious issues of households-related to water and power deficiency in the country.

The Finance Ministry provided Rs 2.8 billion during the first quarter (July-September) of 2009-10 financial year to the Water and Power Ministry as against the total committed quarterly allocation, amounting to Rs 17.85 billion. During three-day PSDP review meeting held recently, the Finance Ministry gave top priority to the Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA), Ports and Shipping, Communication, Population, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and Health Ministry.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources received 85 percent of the budgetary allocations, amounting to Rs 170 million as against the request of Rs 200 million in the first quarter.

The Finance Ministry gave second priority to Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA), which received 75.1 percent of the committed funds, amounting to Rs 82.5 million as against the committed amount of Rs 109.8 million in the first quarter. The Ministry of Ports and Shipping received 72.2 percent fund releases, amounting to Rs 16 million as against the requirement of Rs 22 million in the first quarter.

Via Business Recorder

Economics, Electricity, Energy, Nuclear, Oil, Pakistan, Petrol, Water, power

Pakistan government has not been able to implement Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) ‘Forward Plan’. According to this plan, Pepco’s debts of Rs 261 million had to be transferred to the newly established Power Holding Company Limited (PHCL) by September 30, 2009.

Munawar Baseer Ahmad, ADB-CDTA team leader, in a letter, titled ‘Pakistan Power Sector Debt Resolution Plan’ (PSDRP) to Special Secretary, Finance, Asif Bajwa, stated that the government would have to take addtiional steps to bring the plan back on track.

“We have reviewed the status and progress with Martin Endelman, Principal Financial Sector Specialist, ADB, Manila, and it has been noted (that) certain time bound actions have not been completed by the target dates due to other priority actions of the Finance Ministry,” sources quoted Baseer as saying in the letter. According to him, the focus was completion of the issuance of Rs 90 billion Term Finance Certificates (TFCs).

According to the ADB, non-completion of the debt transfer from Pepco and Wapda to the PHCL by September 30 require the following essential actions: (a) consent of banks to extend date of transfer beyond agreed date of Sept, 30, 2009; and (b) obtaining extension by Pepco from SECP for account closing by September 30 and AGM by October 30 (Statutory requirement of one month from account closing).

Further, ADB has envisioned that on completion of the Rs 90 billion transaction, Finance Ministry will be able to re-focus on the essential actions as per the ‘Forward Plan’.

Electricity, Energy, Pakistan finance

As reported by WSJ, India is poised for a big increase in its civilian nuclear capabilities.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday stressed the importance of nuclear energy in bridging the country’s yawning energy gap, as Indian and international companies line up to enter a market opened by last year’s U.S.-India nuclear deal.

Addressing a function in New Delhi to honor Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr. Singh said India is geared up for a major expansion of its nuclear program “in which international cooperation will be an important component.”

“Nuclear energy is vital to meeting our energy and developmental needs, particularly those of large, developing countries like India,” Mr. Singh said.

Of India’s total installed generating capacity of 152,000 megawatts, nuclear energy makes up some 2.7% of that capacity, or 4,100 megawatts, says India’s ministry of power. India currently has 17 nuclear power plants and is building an additional six.

The global Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008 lifted its ban on selling nuclear fuel to India, and, as a result, nuclear power is expected to rise to 40,000 megawatts of installed generating capacity by 2020.

The lifting of the ban was part of the negotiations undertaken by the U.S. and India to reach a new deal on the transfer of civilian nuclear technology. The deal, signed in October 2008, ended a 34-year U.S. moratorium on nuclear trade with India following India’s first nuclear tests in 1974.

These developments have opened the door for overseas companies such as GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Westinghouse Electric Co. and Areva SA to sell reactor technology and fuel to India at a time when the country is fast increasing its power-generation capacity to meet a huge gap in supply and demand. (GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy is a joint venture between General Electric Co. and Hitachi Ltd.)

Mr. Singh said at a conference in New Delhi on Tuesday that the Indian government’s nuclear strategy could potentially yield 470,000 megawatts of power by the year 2050. “This will sharply reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and will be a major contribution to global efforts to combat climate change,” he said .

On Wednesday, India’s Hindustan Construction Co. and Amec PLC, a U.K.-based engineering and project-management company, signed an initial agreement for taking on nuclear power projects in India. The venture with AMEC will focus on consulting services and subcontracting operations, said Vinayak Deshpande, president of Hindustan Construction. He said the company expects to eventually employ as many as 500 engineers.

Also, “we expect six nuclear reactors to come up for bidding in the next 15 months, and we hope to get a sizable portion of orders from these projects,” Mr. Deshpande added.

Indian engineering and construction companies such as Larsen & Toubro Ltd. and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. also are eager to tap into nuclear power projects.

Clean Technology, Consumers, Electricity, Energy, Nuclear, power India

Mobile base station electricity costs could rise by nearly 55% over the next five years unless operators address network inefficiencies and reduce reliance on non-renewable energy resources, according to a new report from Juniper Research. Its author, Dr Windsor Holden, said: “Operators in Africa and Asia who continue to rely on diesel for off-grid generators will find margins increasingly squeezed as their networks expand and diesel prices rise. We believe that unless a transition to generators powered by renewable energy is effected, then many such networks may no longer be financially viable within a few years.”

Other findings from the green base stations research include:

• Base stations are responsible for more than 70% of CO₂ emissions in the mobile use phase
• Operators should increasingly seek to utilise feederless sites and distributed site architecture as means of reducing inefficiency
• Adopting measures suggested under the transformational model will enable operators to reduce base station CO₂ emissions by up to 30%

Cellular News reports.

Electricity, power base station, telecom