Wrong perception about unreliability halting the progress of Solar Panels

Wrong perception about unreliability halting the progress of Solar Panels

Wednesday, April 4, 2012: Experts believe that wrong perception about the unreliability of technology is halting the progress of Solar Panels in Pakistan. General public are led to believe that the technology runs the risk of developing
faults.

The likelihood of their batteries running down earlier than expected and the Effects of moisture, dirt and rain on solar panels discourage people from investing in clean energy sources.

Shaaf Mehboob, Director of Green Center, a Karachi-based company that offers energy efficient solutions to industrial, commercial and residential customers by doing energy audits and selling energy management equipment, said “People
need to understand that solar panels aren’t off-the-shelf items. The solar technology is an ‘engineered solution,’ whose capacity must be in accordance with the expected load.”

Mehboob further said that there are no regulations on the alternative energy sector in Pakistan. There is no supervision and quality checks this has resulted in customers losing trust in the solar technology.

He said, “You don’t need a certification or approval from any government body to set up an alternative energy company. No inspector from a government authority will ever pay you a visit to check the quality of your products and
services.”

He adds that it is the lack of regulation that solar panels of poor quality are being sold in Pakistan. A good quality, Korea-made solar panel can cost up to Rs400 per watt.

Although such panels have an average life of 20 years, Mehboob says their performance also depends on the number of hours they are used every day. The average life of a battery used in solar panels is four years.

The cost of electricity produced by solar panels is under Rs10 per unit in the long run, which is lower than the rate of electricity supplied by the national grid if the expenses incurred on petrol/diesel to run standby generators
during power load-shedding are taken into account.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=18133

Posted by Wajahat Javed on Apr 5 2012. Filed under Business, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry