Solar Home System Installed In More Than 170,000 Houses In Remote Areas

[Jai Dee]

Solar home system installed in more than 170,000 houses in remote areas

The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has installed solar home system for power generation to more than 170,000 houses in remote jungles and on many islands.

PEA will invest 5.6 billion baht altogether in installing the electricity production system from solar power for about 200,000 houses.

The project should be completed in September.

PEA also waived electricity bills in May for houses completely destroyed by the northern floods last month and allowed houses which were partially damaged to pay the bills on a three-month installment.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 29 June 2006

[The Coder]

I wonder what the specs are. Several years ago I recall their goal was something like enough to run a single light bulb and a 14" TV for 4 hours. If you do the math the system is about 30K baht per house so I wonder if it could even achieve that. No idea how often or how expensive it would be to change batteries but surely people could never afford that expense when it comes time. I don't really see this as sustainable and seems to offer little other than give these people a modern bed time (watch tv and go to sleep). In a country so rich in sunlight it's disappointing that it just doesn't seem solar is very well thought out.

Edited June 29, 2006 by The Coder

[opothai]

i am in the construction industry in the uk, and the latest thing seems to be the concentration on what is known as renewables.

facinating what they can do with just the natural rescources at our disposal.

for the countries with sun, solar power is definately the way of the future, one instance is the heating of water through solar power and storing that heat in insulated rock forms.

laying a series of pipes under ground to heat superstores [ tescos new builds ] just by laying the pipes in the car park area the water is heated to 48% with no energy used at all.

windy countries, wind turbines, coastal countries wave power.

i would say fair play to the thais for at least exploring these options for the future.

[Lacoste]

i.

i would say fair play to the thais for at least exploring these options for the future.

I would agree with you opothai, it is a step in the right direction and should be seen as a litmus test for what could be a very real viable partial energy source in the future for Thailand.

Even at low rates of efficiency the use of sunlight can be a competitive form of power generation.

Regards, Charlie

[ando]

Solar electricity generation at a home level isn't really financially viable because it costs such a big capital outlay to set it up. One compromise to overcome the battery replacement problem is to sell the power back into the grid during the daytime and use the profits to offset the cost of electricity from the grid at night time. It still takes 10 or 20 years to make it viable though. But overall it reduces the amount of oil and coal required to provide electricity.

[svenivan]

Solar electricity generation at a home level isn't really financially viable because it costs such a big capital outlay to set it up. One compromise to overcome the battery replacement problem is to sell the power back into the grid during the daytime and use the profits to offset the cost of electricity from the grid at night time. It still takes 10 or 20 years to make it viable though. But overall it reduces the amount of oil and coal required to provide electricity.

Well, the problem is that there is no grid where they put up all 200 000 new Solar systems. That is why they help them with giving them the systems.

[svenivan]

Is there anyone that know the prices if I want to install a bigger system ?

I know that it was very hard to find Solar panels 5 years ago but what I understand, Thailand now produce their own panels.

So someone know about price and what you get for your money?

Edited June 30, 2006 by svenivan

[Pond Life]

Check out www.leonics.com

They are a bangkok company specialiseing in alternative & back up power.

I bought a small system from them last year.

100,000 baht got me:

4 x 50 Watt panels

4 x 12 Volt 100 Ah deep cycle batteries

charge controller

1000 Watt inverter/charger

With this small system I can run stereo, water pump, charge phone & laptop & lots of power saver flourescent bulbs for as long as I like.

What I cant do is run a refrigerator.

So, 100k & you cant run a fridge, with the current low cost of electric in Thailand solar is not economicly viable if you have access to grid power. But I'll continue to do it anyway.

I wouldn't recomend the inverter from Leonics as mine uses 20 w even with no load, there are others available that use less than 5 w on standby. All other equipment has been excellant.

A cheaper source of batteries may be some 6 Volt deep cycle (golf cart) batteries from 3K.

Hope this helps, PM me if you want more info.

[svenivan]

Check out www.leonics.com

They are a bangkok company specialiseing in alternative & back up power.

Hope this helps, PM me if you want more info.

Thank you Pond Life. I have PM'd you.

[svenivan]

With this small system I can run stereo, water pump, charge phone & laptop & lots of power saver flourescent bulbs for as long as I like.

What I cant do is run a refrigerator.

So, 100k & you cant run a fridge, with the current low cost of electric in Thailand solar is not economicly viable if you have access to grid power. But I'll continue to do it anyway.

Now a question:

Long time ago, 40 yearsor so, when people in Sweden started to buy summerhouses they had gas for cooking but also to run the refrigerator.

Have anyone seen such a fridge here in Thailand?

[Hendrikus]

Regarding the use of solar energy, I kindly suggest looking into 'solar cookers'. For one, the use of two card board boxes, some aluminum foil, tape, plate of glass and newspaper it is possible to construct a solar cooker. Great “slow” cooker for stews, rice etc. (Financial-economic investment recuperation-'high velocity')

Regarding refrigeration, in the camper-van industry, for multi-energy driven refrigerators are used. Gas being on of the options.

Cheers,

[astral]

We had a gas fridge in the UK, 30+ years ago.

I have not seen one since.

[Pond Life]

3 way fridges (ac/dc/lpg) are still widely used in the caravan industry, most are made by Dometic which is a branch of Electrolux.

I have been totaly unable to track one down in Thailand.

They seem like a good solution for remote areas.

[chownah]

If you find a source let us know. I lived in a cabin in the woods for awhile and had one there...they work just fine and the cost to run a small one is reasonable.

[svenivan]

If you find a source let us know. I lived in a cabin in the woods for awhile and had one there...they work just fine and the cost to run a small one is reasonable.

Noone in TV that seen or heard about gas fridges?

[meadish_sweetball]

Hej Svenivan - maybe you could try to contact Electrolux Thailand... [email protected] or + 66 2 725 9000

[Pond Life]

I would recomend te phone option as they sure didnt answer my email !

[Bizz]

gas fridges

Google it

[ronw]

All this hoo haa about alternative energy,....and there are other things for which the technology already exists,to reduce reliance on oil , gas and coal.....

Hydrogen production is one....hydrogen can be produced on a small scale almost anywhere,using wind,solar or water power.....and many engines can easily be converted to run on it....and a great advantage of using hydrogen is that when burned , it produces WATER ..ie non polluting!

For cold countries, instead if using oil or gas as a heating fuel, then the installation of heat pumps can provide sufficient energy [at VERY low cost] for all purposes.

For each system there is a fairly high installation cost,but will be very cheap to use in the medium to long term.

[Khun ?]

RV Mobile, RV and Gas Refrigerators

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Refrigerators & Coolers | RV Supply Warehouse

http://www.rvsupplywarehouse.com/product/catalog.cfm/nid/200

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[peter991]

I haven't looked into it for a couple of years - but coming from Australia where there is lots of sunlight, solar hot water systems are very popular. They come usually with an electric booster for cold, cloudy days when there isn't enough sunlight to heat the water.

I am amazed that solar hot water heating is not more popular. As one Op said, solar panels are now made cheaply in Thailand, so it would cut the cost of electricity for places that use a lot of hot water - like hotels.

Most Thai homes in Issan that do have hot showers - have instantaneous electric water heaters costing around 3000 baht.

Anybody installed a solar hot water system for their home lately?

Peter

[otherstuff1957]

Gas (Propane) fridges are usually used on RV's (Caravans). I've never seen an RV or a gas fridge in Thailand.

They actually are less efficient than electric refrigerators, so unless you are off the grid, they aren't any better than standard refrigerators.

If you google Solar icemaker you will see an interesting device that uses ammonia absorption and sunlite to make ice that can be used in old fashioned iceboxes.

[Johpa]

If you find a source let us know. I lived in a cabin in the woods for awhile and had one there...they work just fine and the cost to run a small one is reasonable.

Noone in TV that seen or heard about gas fridges?

I remember living in a more remote area once where there was a gas fridge, and when the gas ran out they would use a candle.

As for solar panels, they are probably not quite economical as yet for mass rural Thai applications, but the day is not that far off. I think Stanford Ovshinsky's company in the US already is able to mass produce rolls of a thin solar power sheeting that will eventually become affordable and economical. Ovshinsky was featured in the documentary film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" and is clearly one of the more eccentric yet brilliant US inventors over the past 50 years.

As for heating water in Thailand, that is just too simple given the amount of solar energy available, as just about any dark colored container placed in the sun in the morning will provide you with warm water in the evening. Before we had electricity in my wife's village, I would simply fill up a large industrial black plastic container, which I bought at the surplus store in Chiang Mai for 10B, place it out in the AM, and return from work in the PM and have warm water for bathing even in the winter months. Don't know why you would need warmed water the other 10 months of the year.

[qualtrough]

About 10-15 years ago I ran into a old gas fridge for sale out back of Jatujak, so they were available here at one time if they are not now. It was about the size of a small apartment fridge. Might have been made by Singer, cannot recall.

In the US you can buy kerosene refrigerators as well as gas fridges. If you lived in a really remote spot a kerosene fridge would be neat. Just google kerosene refrigerator to find out more about those.

[bkk_mike]

You CAN run a fridge off solar, but you need to start with a chest freezer, and change it either work off a trickle of power, or as with this example, only come on for brief periods when the thermostat says the power needs to come on.

Look at http://mtbest.net/chest_fridge.html for an example.

There must be a market for someone to make a DC fridge using this sort of idea that runs off batteries powered by solar. If only for medical use in Africa, or in RVs in the US, or the 200,000 homes in Thailand with small solar units.

[simon43]

I've thought a lot about solar-powered heating or gas fridges or whatever that I initially thought could be used to 'improve' the lifes of rural Thai folk. But from many visits to my wife's home village in Issan, I've come to the conclusion that many of my ideas simply would not bear fruit!

Here are a few examples:

1 - I wanted to buy a gas cooker (working from gas bottles) for my mother-in-law. But she said that she didn't need it. She was used to cooking all food over an open fire each day. The wood for the fire was locally scavenged and free, and she (and all other village members) were expert at starting these fires and controlling them and the heat that they produced. So she wasn't interested in expensive gas bottles when her existing 'stove' was free.

2 - So what about hot water for the shower? They don't need it because the water is already warm when it comes out the well. Besides, no-one wants to have a hot shower in the Issan heat!

3 - OK, clean drinking water. What about that? They were not interested! They would never trust the well-water to be drinkable, even if it was filtered through expensive filters etc. In any case, they already had 2 cheap sources of drinking water. One is from the local minimart/water supplier at 11 baht for a big container. The other is the 1,000 litre jars that can be filled up for 200 baht a shot and last for months!

I came to the conclusion that what 'westerners' think can help to improve the lives of rural Thai folks is not neccessarily what they see as important. A big-screen TV would be much better appreciated...

Simon

[Artisi]

Solar home system installed in more than 170,000 houses in remote areas

The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has installed solar home system for power generation to more than 170,000 houses in remote jungles and on many islands.

PEA will invest 5.6 billion baht altogether in installing the electricity production system from solar power for about 200,000 houses.

The project should be completed in September.

PEA also waived electricity bills in May for houses completely destroyed by the northern floods last month and allowed houses which were partially damaged to pay the bills on a three-month installment.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 29 June 2006

This article is about primary power generation not alternate generation so therefore it is 100% efficient and acceptable in its installation. Further, if gas was an option in these locations it could be used for lighting but still leave a gap as far as running a small TV or battery charging.

[stumonster]

lights , television and communications could be handled cheaply by solar

I would still be interested in finding a supplier of gas powered fridges.

[Gary A]

My wife has a ten rai plot of land that has no electricity. It is scenic, has a pond and fruit trees. I am quite interested in building a getaway cottage on that land. I checked out solar energy companies including Solar Energy Asia and the Thai company that supplies the government with their systems. I was interesting that both companies wanted exactly 180,000 baht for 400 watt systems. I calculated the payback time and it appears it is about 25 years. Of course the systems will not last 25 years, so no payback. Solar energy is a great idea, unfortunately it is still simply too expensive to install.

[lannarebirth]

My wife has a ten rai plot of land that has no electricity. It is scenic, has a pond and fruit trees. I am quite interested in building a getaway cottage on that land. I checked out solar energy companies including Solar Energy Asia and the Thai company that supplies the government with their systems. I was interesting that both companies wanted exactly 180,000 baht for 400 watt systems. I calculated the payback time and it appears it is about 25 years. Of course the systems will not last 25 years, so no payback. Solar energy is a great idea, unfortunately it is still simply too expensive to install.

You should be able to get a free one trom the Thai government. Solartron and the gov have a progran for rural electrification. Solartron's the big winner of course, and whoever they kicked back to. I wouldn't buy one now though. Thin film solar is coming to market now and will shave $2/W off most installations

We have one on one piece of land. 125W panel feeding a 12 Volt battery w/ controller for a few 10W bulbs and plugs. After a year the controller started smoking last week and we took it back to the Power Authoity. they said, "yes, the controllers have had many problems, but the chang will be coming to this area in 5-6 months". Fortunately, we just got electric poles installed adjacent to this piece of land and we'll get a meter. I think I'll move the panel elsewhere and put a 12V pump directly on it.