Solar Power

[mijan24]

Does anyone have the name and contact details for the Thai German Solar Company in the North East.

I have said north-east because I can't remember if it is between Khon Kaen & Udon Thani or Udon Thani & Nong Khai.

Thanks for any assistance provided.

[thaibites0]

http://www.tgs.co.th/

But there's no info up yet. They are in Khon Kaen though -

''The ING Thailand Temple Run has teamed up with Thai-German Solar, a producer of solar lights to light up the race course after sunset. With the late afternoon start organizers face the challenge of lighting up dark stretches of the course. Large parts of the course will be lit by ordinary street lights while the parts without street lighting will be lit with more than 1000 globe lights placed by the side of the road so that the whole course will be safely lit. Together with the Thai cultural bands this will create a special atmosphere for runners still on the course by night fall.

Franz Roecker and his Thai-German Solar team from Khon Kaen will set the lights up in the afternoon and Franz has assured organizers that the lights will last for a minimum of 10 hours. The globe lights will be placed 12 meters apart and will ensure that runners return to the finish line safely.''

[BambinA]

google found the address ..(no tel.) maybe you'd call 183 and ask the phone company for tel. number

ชื่อบริษัท บริษัทไทย-เยอรมัน โซล่า จำกัด

ที่อยู่-ติดต่อ 264 หมู่ 10 ถ.มิตรภาพ ต.คำม่วง อ.เขาสวนกวาง จ.ขอนแก่น

Thai-German Solar Co,Lmt

264 m.10 Mitrphap Rd, t. Kum Muang A.Khao Suan Kwang

J. Khon Khan

they have website , but underconstruction

http://www.smartsolar.com/

Edited December 3, 2005 by BambinA

[Thaipwriter]

The factory is located just to the north of Khon Kaen on the main Mittaphap Highway. Its between 5 and 20 kms north, i dont remember how many but i have seen it many times and is easily visible as your drive north on the left...there is a big sign painted on the roof

[mijan24]

thaibites0, BambinA, Thaipwriter - Thanks guys appreciate the thoughts & efforts.

BamninaA like your avatar!

[BambinA]

found the number.....yipppppeeeeee

0-4344-9605

0-4344-9423

0-4344-9499

[patrickq]

Bambina, just about to look at alternative energy sources myself, could you maybe post what you find out from your enquiries and once I track anything down I'll do the same. Just looking at ways to provide some independent electricity for 2 bed house, possibly a couple of houses. Set in reasonably open land (ie not condo) so can be fairly flexible on system.

[BambinA]

alternative energy sources

imho i think ite cost of invest is expensive

as use the principle of dynamo ..( magnetic field spin around copper wire) by mill or use water

when i was a highschool student , it has a science project . This group use the different level of water make machanical .. i think it can apply too (but i forget the theory , it 's around 15-18 yrs ago

about biogas as methane for the fermentation of stool ,or garbage ..after you get methane , maybe u can apply it to make electric

its fun to do experiment isn't it?

[patrickq]

oops!

my post above should have been directed to mijan24 (not Bambina).

Patrick

[BambinA]

oops!

my post above should have been directed to mijan24 (not Bambina).

Patrick

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hehe nevemind ... make me confused for 10 mins .. i know some stuff about it but toooooooooo basic .....

[thaibites0]

Solar cells cannot return the energy that goes into making them yet - more research is needed before the oil runs out but we have more important things to spend the money on at the moment.

A lot of hotels in BKK have huge banks of cells on the roof but, as BambinA said, the cost to savings ratio really does need carefull consideration.

With the privatisation of the electricity supply and the price rises that this will entail it might be something worth looking into in the near future.

[Gary A]

I live in a village about five kilometers from a place named Nong Hin. On that short stretch of road there are two houses with solar panels in front of the houses. It appears that both houses are now empty. I have been looking to find someone at home so my wife could find out where the panels came from and how they work. Both houses are along a road with electricity but neither has wires to the power poles. It is interesting that both houses have TV antennas. It may be a government thing because It would appear that neither of those house would be able to afford buying solar panels from a private company.

[thaibites0]

Solar power can't power your house - all it can do is add a small amount to what you take from your power source, if the houses had no power cables running it means they had no power.

There is no way you will run a fan or AC on solar power alone but you can buy banks of solar panels that you can tie into your power supply - it's like double glazing in the UK, pays for itself in 10 years, or is that just a selling point?

[phuketsiam]

There was German footballer, I forget which one who donated several million baht to make a school solar powered in remote Thailand, in California they use lots of solar power, use the grid as a 'battery' ie excess supply in the day is put into the grid and at night the grid supplies the power, in Cyprus there is a house with no mains electric, and the (rich) owners installed bank of photoelectric solar cells and a whole room of batteries and inverters, it is possible to power a house with solar, but you need a lot of investment up front and use gas for cooking, solar water heaters and generally keep your usage down.

[bina]

just discussed this this morning.....

what about solar power for hot water shower only..?? prices etc in khorat area.... in israel we use them in the summer months w/sun; cuts energy bills by a lot (provided 17 yr old doesnt shower for an hour).... and i hate cold water showers so this is on the list of must haves as opposed to options (washing machine for instance)

sites in thai /eng would be helpful.... or REAL recommendations (from people who have done this).... or is electric water heater for shower relatively cheap???

[phuketsiam]

nearly every house in Cyprus has solar hot water, its very effective, ahve seen them in Thailand too, search the forum because there was a thread about this and someone was recommending a chinese made model for a very affordable 7000 baht or so

[lopburi3]

just discussed this this morning.....

what about solar power for hot water shower only..?? prices etc in khorat area.... in israel we use them in the summer months w/sun; cuts energy bills by a lot (provided 17 yr old doesnt shower for an hour).... and i hate cold water showers so this is on the list of must haves as opposed to options (washing machine for instance)

sites in thai /eng would be helpful.... or REAL recommendations (from people who have done this).... or is electric water heater for shower relatively cheap???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The electric wall type water heater is only on during demand and that will be very few minutes per day so it is nothing like running electric hot plates and probably about the same as using your toaster each day. I would not invest in solar water heaters here as those that I have seen seem to be out of service on old hotels for the most part. If you build yourself or can take care of it perhaps it might make a good project but it is a lot of added weight on the roof and pipes all over. You then have to have mixing facilities at each point of use.

[thaibites0]

Before the advent of electric water heaters in every province I ran about 100m of half inch Upvc pipe down the south facing wall of the house (luckily it was a side wall) and fed the shower from that - you could complete your ablutions before the mains supply came through and you had to be careful you didn't scald yourself when you first turned the shower on!

Although you could buy a quality water heater for 4-5,000 baht nowdays, the cost to set up the same thing today would be about 1,500 baht and no electricity charges. The water in the pipe stayed hot through the night so an early morning shower was warm if not hot - an evening shower n shave was hotter that the water heater we have now.

[BTDT]

I live in a village about five kilometers from a place named Nong Hin. On that short stretch of road there are two houses with solar panels in front of the houses. It appears that both houses are now empty. I have been looking to find someone at home so my wife could find out where the panels came from and how they work. Both houses are along a road with electricity but neither has wires to the power poles. It is interesting that both houses have TV antennas. It may be a government thing because It would appear that neither of those house would be able to afford buying solar panels from a private company.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gary A,

I suspect that these houses have had their solar systems installed by the regional

office of the PEA (Provincial Electricity Authority). The reason I say this is that

until fairly recently, I worked with a PEA engineer who was responsible for surveying

and installing these systems in the areas around Udon city, which have not been

supplied with mains electricity. The solar systems are fairly basic and only meant to

power essentials, such as lights and water pumps. According to the engineer, though,

that did not prevent some recipients from plugging in all sorts of high power items

like fridges and airconditioners and blowing the crap out of the systems.

[Gary A]

The power poles that run beside the road are on the opposite side from the houses. One house is probably about a hundred meters from the poles and the other about 50 meters. That means they would need a pole as well as the run of wire. Both houses have three solar panels mounted on a pipe. I think the three panel units would be more expensive than hooking up to the power lines. I just recently noticed them so they couldn't have been there very long. One of these days I'll find someone who knows.

I live in a village about five kilometers from a place named Nong Hin. On that short stretch of road there are two houses with solar panels in front of the houses. It appears that both houses are now empty. I have been looking to find someone at home so my wife could find out where the panels came from and how they work. Both houses are along a road with electricity but neither has wires to the power poles. It is interesting that both houses have TV antennas. It may be a government thing because It would appear that neither of those house would be able to afford buying solar panels from a private company.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gary A,

I suspect that these houses have had their solar systems installed by the regional

office of the PEA (Provincial Electricity Authority). The reason I say this is that

until fairly recently, I worked with a PEA engineer who was responsible for surveying

and installing these systems in the areas around Udon city, which have not been

supplied with mains electricity. The solar systems are fairly basic and only meant to

power essentials, such as lights and water pumps. According to the engineer, though,

that did not prevent some recipients from plugging in all sorts of high power items

like fridges and airconditioners and blowing the crap out of the systems.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[lungbing]

My bungalow has a two-panel solar hot-water system installed by Thai-German (now called Solar Solutions) Their address is a few posts back from this one but they are a little further away from Khon Kaen than another post suggests. They are situated on the left at Km post 47 on Mittraparp Rd from Khon Kaen to Udon Thani.

The system gives oodles of hot water, which in the hot season needs a lot of cool water to bring the temperature down to a safe level for a shower. We have mixer taps in the bathrooms and kitchen with copper pipes for the hot water and the usual blue plastic for the cold.

The system had a minor leak which Thai-German Solar came and fixed promptly. The system cost 55,000 baht two and a half years ago.

I asked about running the house of solar generated electricity and was told you'd need banks of panels to do that and it would not be economic. But the man did show me a paperback book sized panel which was ideal for charging a mobile phone.

I believe Howard at Castle Howchow (Kranuan) also has a similar system to mine for hot water and also has small panels for making enough power to run water-pumps for fountains.

Given all the sunshine here I am amazed so few panels are seen around.

[chownah]

My bungalow has  a two-panel solar hot-water system installed by Thai-German  (now called Solar Solutions)  Their address is a few posts back from this one but they are a little further away from Khon Kaen than another post suggests.  They are situated on the left at Km post 47 on Mittraparp Rd from Khon Kaen to Udon Thani.

The system gives oodles of hot water,  which in the hot season needs a lot of cool water to bring the temperature down to a safe level for a shower.  We have mixer taps in the bathrooms and kitchen with copper pipes for the hot water and the usual blue plastic for the cold.

The system had a minor leak which Thai-German Solar came and fixed promptly.  The system cost 55,000 baht two and a half years ago.

I asked about running the house of solar generated  electricity and was told you'd need banks of panels to do that and it would not be economic.    But the man did show me a paperback book sized panel which was ideal for charging a mobile phone. 

I believe Howard at Castle Howchow (Kranuan) also has a similar system to mine for hot water and also has small panels for making enough power to run water-pumps for fountains.

Given all the sunshine here I am amazed so few panels are seen around.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If the water being too hot is a problem in some months then putting something on to the panel to block some of the light should work fine....you can then remove at the end of the problem months....if this is a problem.

[lungbing]

Not really a problem as we are aware that the water gets hot in the hot season (funnily enough !). And that's easier than climbing onto my roof to cover half the panels. Even on a bungalow it's along way to fall for the archetypal fat bald farang that I am. It also means we can have a long soak in a hot bath and still not use up all the hot water.

[haha]

I did some research on solar power some time back. if you do a search, maybe you can find the thread.

I still have some links to some websites on the topic..

http://www.alpinesurvival.com/system1swd.htm

http://www.scottevest.com/

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18424786.000

http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2004Dec/...41217028313.htm

http://www.solonmover.com/english/projekte/lproj.php

http://www.solarairportlights.com/content/...ls/Default.aspx

haven't looked at the latest developments.

I seemed to remember some vendors who sold systems that could provide electricity for whole house. ..even power your air-conditioners. but costed like 20k dollars.

if you want more links, let me know. I have about 30 links on the topic in my bookmarks.

[haha]

..just found these new websites on the topic of solar power.

http://www.chasepower.net/

http://www.homepower.com/links/other.cfm

[haha]

solar technology seems to be increasing with leaps and bounds. I found this following article interesting...

http://www.solarserver.de/index-e.html#world

[Anon999]

solar technology seems to be increasing with leaps and bounds.  I found this following article interesting...

http://www.solarserver.de/index-e.html#world

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi,

There are some interesting possibilities in the UK where we don't get too much sun. The following sites may be of interest.

http://www.solartwin.com/

http://www.solar-power-answers.co.uk/