Massive Solar Panels in Chilean Desert Point to our Renewable Future

Despite unrest in the country causing to withdraw from hosting the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25), its ambitious plans for a renewable energy future continue. This dramatic image of a solar facility, contrasting starkly with the ancient sand of the Atacama desert, shows how those intentions are becoming reality. 

Following the global climate change deal signed in Paris, this project is a source of hope because it demonstrates how far renewable technology has come. They have already pledged to phase out coal-fired power by 2040 and be carbon neutral by 2050. But in a bid to hold other countries to further-reaching pledges, it is now looking for ways to bring forward its own deadlines.

These panels are in the Solar Jama plant, along the coast from Chile’s capital, Santiago. It is located thousands of metres above sea level, and the arid desert air contains very little water vapour, allowing more sunlight to reach the solar cells. It is built to harvest the energy of the sun via a growing field of giant mirrors that radiate out for more than a kilometre across the ground below with a geometric precision that is reminiscent of contemporary art or the stone circles of the druids.

A surge in lower cost solar panels from China in recent years has helped to place it within a whisker of its target to get 20% of its power from renewables by 2025. The market had been flooded with cheap solar panels from China that had helped accelerate Chile’s targets, but meant that Cerro Dominador’s output was only useful for the half of the day not covered by the panels. 

The project was hailed by government and industry as a key component of Chile’s vow to wean itself off imported fossil fuels and large hydroelectric centers, which are struggling to stay online amid a persistent and deepening drought.

Although there are other, bigger concentrated solar power plants in the US, this is the first in South America and is believed to be the largest anywhere in the world to use a single tower and locally mined salt for thermal storage and to drive its turbines.

The sun is so powerful in this 1,100m-altitude desert that it can be dangerous. Along with a harness, helmet and boots, the essential safety items for visitors are dark glasses and industrial-strength sunblock lotion. Despite the heat, security guards on the perimeter have have thick uniforms that cover every inch of their skin.

This will be an iconic project that reduces 840,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year. But, the project has to compete with conventional generation, so the challenge is to reduce costs and make it more competitive. The financing for these facilities is a challenge

Power Emergency in Pakistan

The Natio­nal Electric Power Regula­tory Authority (Nepra) has asked the prime minister to declare a national power emergency and take drastic steps for scaling down about Rs1.93 trillion circular debt which, according to the regulator, is significantly higher than reported by the power division. The power regulator has advised the government to declare a power emergency to take a series of steps on urgent basis. Under this emergency, Nepra has suggested a ban on labour unions for ensuring and enhancing recoveries for and from distribution companies and proposed that there should be no imported fuel-based power projects.

Nepra advised that some low hanging fruits should be plucked immediately by loan restructuring of Rs53bn per year for eight thermal power plants, including three LNG-based, three coal- based and two nuclear power plants.

The power bureaucracy has long been notorious for its total lack of transparency, especially with regard to its reporting of financial data. When pressured by its political bosses to improve its performance, it routinely resorts to managing the numbers rather than the outcomes on the ground.

It might sound like alarmist talk when the power sector regulator advises the prime minister to declare a ‘power emergency’ in the country.

Power bureaucracy showed an improvement in performance without actually having achieved anything. Given the discrepancy between the figures concerning the circular debt presented by the power bureaucracy and the regulator, perhaps the call should be taken seriously.

For the period ending Dec 31, to take one example, there is a Rs74bn discrepancy in the amount of the circular debt that was reported by the power division and Nepra. The nature of the power system is such that there is no way to reconcile the two different numbers, other than sending both the parties into a room with a neutral arbiter of some sort, who is able to emerge with the correct amount.

The regulator also reported that monthly circular debt touched the lowest ebb of Rs3.25bn in June 2016 and had since been increasing. The average build-up amounted to Rs10.8bn by June 2017, followed by Rs25.58bn by June 2018 and then Rs41bn a month by June 2019. It slightly reduced to Rs39.67bn by Dec 2019 and went up again to Rs42.4bn in Jan 2020.

The regulator, Nepra, has now reportedly told Prime Minister Imran Khan directly, and in the presence of high officials from the power bureaucracy, that the circular debt figures being reported by the latter are not correct; it has presented its own figures as a counterpoint. Given this lack of transparency, the continuing rise of the circular debt indeed looks like an emergency.

The government prefers to blame this situation on the rising capacity payments, given the recent additions to power-generation capacity under the previous government. There was always a concern over the rising capacity charges that have come with the new additions under the last government. Warnings were even sounded from within at that time, but they were quickly brushed aside as the power projects continued.

Nevertheless, with such opacity in the figures, it is difficult to accept this claim at face value. It could just as easily be the result of poor billing and recoveries. Perhaps while they are busy reconciling their numbers on the circular debt, those in charge can also produce an independent analysis of what is driving the current increase.

Nepra has also suggested that industry should be asked to operate at night to reduce peak and special economic zones should be developed on priority to increase power demand. It is becoming imperative to get to the bottom of what has gone wrong, because the circular debt is now touching Rs2tr. This climb cannot be sustained forever.

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Enertech Breaks Record of Providing Lowest Tariff Solar Energy Project

A good news for all Pakistanis. According to a press release, the company Enertech — a Kuwaiti shareholding company fully owned by National Technology Enterprises Company (NTEC) provided lowest tariff determined for Independent Power Projects in the history of Pakistan.

Enertech Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Al-Mutairi congratulated NEPRA, government of Balochistan — especially Chief Minister Jam Kamal — on achieving the breakthrough. The CEO hailed support of the CM for unlocking the potential of the province.

Al-Mutairi assured his commitment to bring significant investment in renewable energy and water sectors in Pakistan. He also announced Enertech’s upcoming goal of developing solar power projects near Lasbela and Kharan.

The company has provided a solar energy project with National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) in Balochistan by breaking record of providing lowest tariff of $3.76/kWh for its 500 MW project.

The maiden renewable project in Balochistan will create investor friendly environment in the province having immense renewable energy potential, according to the press release. It further added that achieving lowest tariff is the outcome of resource rich province, engineering efforts and commitment of Inner-Tech to lower down prices of the energy to international averages.

“The initiative of setting up solar power projects in Balochistan would open doors for prospective investors,” said Enertech Pakistan CEO Yasir Malik.

He added that the company was committed to harnessing renewable potential of Balochistan aiming to develop it into the ‘Renewable Energy Hub of Pakistan’.

For more solar related projects, click here.

After 40 Years of Hunting, Scientists Identify a Key Flaw in Solar Panel Efficiency

Solar panels are fantastic pieces of technology, but we need to work out how to make them even more efficient – and last year, scientists solved a 40-year-old mystery around one of the key obstacles to increased efficiency.

The 2019 study outlined a material defect in silicon used to produce solar cells that has previously gone undetected. It could be responsible for the 2 percent efficiency drop that solar cells can see in the first hours of use: Light Induced Degradation (LID). Multiplied by the increasing number of panels installed at solar farms around the world, that drop equals a significant cost in gigawatts that non-renewable energy sources have to make up for.

The estimated loss in efficiency worldwide from LID is estimated to equate to more energy than can be generated by the UK's 15 nuclear power plants. The new discovery could help scientists make up some of that shortfall. "An absolute drop of 2 percent in efficiency may not seem like a big deal, but when you consider that these solar panels are now responsible for delivering a large and exponentially growing fraction of the world's total energy needs, it's a significant loss of electricity generating capacity," said Peaker.

Because of the environmental and financial impact, solar panel 'efficiency degradation' has been the topic of much scientific and engineering interest in the last four decades. However, despite some of the best minds in the business working on it, the problem has steadfastly resisted resolution until now.

To find what 270 research papers across four decades had previously been unable to determine, the latest study used an electrical and optical technique called deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) to find weaknesses in the silicon.

Here's what the DLTS analysis found: As the electronic charge in the solar cells gets transformed from sunlight, the flow of electrons gets trapped; in turn, that reduces the level of electrical power that can be produced. This defect lies dormant until the solar panel gets heated, the team found.

The researchers also found that higher quality silicon had charge carriers (electrons which carry the photon energy) with a longer 'lifetime', which backs up the idea that these traps are linked to the efficiency degradation.

What's more, heating the material in the dark, a process often used to remove traps from silicon, seems to reverse the degradation.

The work to push solar panel efficiency rates higher continues, with breakthroughs continuing to happen in the lab, and nature offering up plenty of efficiency tips as well. Now that the Light Induced Degradation mystery has been solved, solar farms across the globe should benefit.

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To cut carbon, Sindh taps into the wind and the sun

As the world grapples with global warming, developing countries like Pakistan face the gravest risk from the adverse impact of climate change. To get a leg up on the challenge, Sindh is preparing to do its part to reduce its environmental footprint.

According to a senior minister, the provincial government is looking to add another 2,485 megawatts of electricity to the national grid using nothing but wind. Some 24 wind-powered electricity plants are already contributing 1,235 megawatts to the national grid, Shaikh said. “These power plants were set up under the federal government’s Alternative Energy Development Board in Thatta district,” he pointed out.

“Some 12 companies have started the construction of new wind-powered electricity plants in the Thatta and Jamshoro districts,” said Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh. “Both districts form a wind corridor that we are working to tap into.”

Wind is not all the Sindh government is looking to tap into to both meet the province’s energy needs and mitigate the climate crisis. The world is doubling down on solar power. In 2017, global investments in solar power projects reached a record $160.8 billion, which was 18 per cent higher than 2016, as per data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Solar power currently plays a negligible role in Pakistan’s power generation mix. The country gets 64pc of its energy from thermal power projects which generate electricity by burning fuels — such as furnace oil — that are damaging for the environment.

According to the minister, the provincial government has issued letter of intents for setting up 25 solar power projects in the province.

Once completed, the solar power plants due to be constructed in Thatta, Jamshoro, Shaheed Benazirabad and Sukkur districts will generate as much as 1,550 megawatts, he said. “Four of them have already obtained tariff and are waiting for formal approval from the federal government,” he told The Express Tribune.

A push for cleaner renewable energy could have come in Sindh sooner, provincial officials said. They blamed administrative hurdles from the federal government for holding up progress on this front. “The Sindh energy department had finalised agreements from six wind powered electricity plants in 2015,” said one official. “But the federal government imposed a ban on wind and solar power projects through an executive order on April 20 that year.”

The ban was imposed under the recommendation of the Federal Cabinet Committee on Energy. Due to the unilateral action of the federal body, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) stopped the process of awarding tariff to companies who had finalised their agreements pertaining to wind and solar projects with the Sindh government.

The move prompted then chief minister of Sindh, Qaim Ali Shah, to write a letter to then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Shah, in the letter, argued that the cabinet committee’s decision would hold up development in the province.
The share of solar power was so small in the previous fiscal year that it wasn’t highlighted in the Finance Ministry’s report. The Central Power Purchasing Agency’s annual report shows that solar power accounted for less than one per cent of Pakistan’s energy mix.

The rest of the world, on the other hand, has embraced solar power. Germany has invested $200bn in developing various clean energy sources in the past two decades and gets almost a third of its electricity from them.
Although there is no denying the fact that gas, furnace oil, and coal-fired plants are crucial for fulfilling Pakistan’s energy needs, the solar sector certainly deserves more attention.

For More:
Is solar power really the best solution for Pakistan?
Nepra grants generation tariff for two 150MW solar power projects
Alternative Energy

Researchers Build World’s Most Efficient Solar Cell

Research teams from Australian National University (ANU) and China are closing in on a solar cell design that could revolutionize solar panel efficiency. The breakthrough is the material perovskite, a crystalline structure first found in Russia in the mid-1800s. Studies suggest a perovskite solar panel could achieve efficiencies as high as 35%, while also reducing costs by cutting out some steps in the manufacturing process.

For the past several years, engineers have been focusing on newer materials to build panels that are ultimately more efficient and cost-effective in tandem with silicon-based panels, which are popular and more durable. The material is also much easier to fabricate and use than very high purity silicon, which requires an intricate refinement process. Perovskite is obtained as a powder that can be mixed into a solvent and used to coat glass substrates.

Silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) panels currently have efficiency rates of 16% to 18% absorption, and researchers put the theoretical limit for silicon PV efficiency at 29%.  Thomas White, a researcher and professor at ANU and others note that innovation should be geared to improving energy conversion efficiency—the degree to which a panel converts energy from sunlight directly into electricity. “There’s a lot of emphasis now on improving efficiency, and that’s why there’s suddenly these tandem approaches,” said White.

The largest obstacle remains durability, perovskite crystals break down faster than silicon. The crystals dissolve easily so they are particularly susceptible to moisture and Perovskite also can’t take the heat as well as silicon can. White at ANU acknowledged this deficiency.

“The main challenge at the moment is stability,” he said. “We’re still struggling to make them sufficiently stable that you would want to put them on a rooftop for 25 years. So that’s still an unsolved question.”

In related developments, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced more funding and support towards advanced solar photovoltaic energy applications including a grant of $15 million for R&D teams.

Engineers based at universities in China and the United States have taken an interest in the state of perovskite solar cell research and in a recent edition of the scientific journal Advanced Functional Materials, published a paper acknowledging the problems with heightening stability but also thought there was “astounding progress in the efficiency of perovskite solar cells.” White agreed. “That will make or break perovskite over the next few years,” he said.

For more, click here.

Energy future hinges on Renewable

Under the CCoE decision, renewable energy projects would be accepted only through competitive bidding for specific generation capacities. The new policy was now in final stages, had been supported by lending agencies and could not be held back to accommodate 2006 policy investors who could be considered separately and on examination of their cost-benefit analysis.

The provinces and other private stakeholders wanted the new policy to accommodate those past investors after having spent a lot of time and money in the new policy as had been the case in all the past power policies and petroleum policy to allow existing investors to adopt new regime with cost plus tariff formula subject to certain conditions.

It was assumed that provinces would be left with no option but to raise objections over the new policy when it was taken up for approval at the level of Council of Common Interests (CCI). A dispute at the ultimate forum under the constitution to adopt the policy could have negative repercussions unless the projects awarded by provincial governments under the independent power producer (IPP) mode were covered in the new policy to safeguard the interests of the provinces.

The new renewable energy policy had been developed in the light of present day situation when the technologies on one side were fast developing while on other side the cost was continuously going down. Country’s electricity basket is hugely tilted towards thermal imported fuels and emphasized that the new policy envisages increasing the share of renewable energy from around 4 per cent to 20pc by year 2025 and 30pc by year 2030.

Underscoring the importance of renewable resources and their optimal utilization for generation of electricity, he said that from the prospect of attaining energy security and decreasing the impact of current thermal generation on environment, Pakistan needed to develop and harness to the maximum level its indigenous renewable energy resources.