Let there be electricity…
Solar energy expert and director of US-based NGO Skyheat Associates, Dr Richard Komp, pioneered a Photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing and assembling method, deemed apt for any sort of cottage industry. There are efforts to introduce this system in the city, with 23-year-old Faizan Ahmed, a student of physics and mechanical engineering, trying to replicate the model in Pakistan.
“In a city where power outages are much recurrent, the most common coping mechanism for citizens is to purchase portable electricity generators which have relatively high running costs,” said Ahmed, adding that renewable and clean energy sources such as PV modules and panels can help to overcome shortage of power supply.
Preferably consuming five hours of sunshine a day with a 120 watt PV system (two 60 watt panels), about 0.6 kilowatt-hours of electricity could be generated everyday through the Komp system. This energy is deemed to be enough to run four energy saver light-bulbs for 10 hours, a ceiling fan for about eight and a laptop for 24 hours. The PV system requires little maintenance and is pollution-free whereas its modules are rugged, easy to install and would last for decades.
When asked if a PV system could provide power to an entire house, Ahmed replied that it depends on individual household energy consumption patterns. “Generally it is not considered feasible to power a house with running ACs, refrigerators, televisions and other high energy appliances only with solar energy. The system would need to be over-sized to account for peak usage levels, the panels would take up a vast area and the initial costs would be extremely high,” he added.
Ahmed narrated that he got in touch with Komp by chance, as Ambreen Rahman, a Pakistani student based in the United States (US), had contacted the expert to express her keenness for carrying out such workshops in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. Her logic, he said, was to benefit from PV assembly workshops that Komp had conducted in countries such as Nicaragua, India and Haiti, and use the knowledge for the benefit of the impoverished and unemployed in Muzaffarabad.
He said that due to a lack of appropriate information regarding the outcome of the project and a lack of sustainable funding, Ambreen could not carry out her efforts in Muzzafarabad, but she did introduce Komp to him, as he (Ahmed) had undertaken similar efforts in Thar, Sindh.
According to Ahmed, he had worked on the operations and maintenance of PV systems (installed by the government) in remote villages of Thar, as part of an internship with the Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB) in the summer of 2007. Ahmed then wrote a detailed proposal about a workshop titled ‘Small-Scale Solar Module Manufacturing in Karachi’, and sent it to Komp, who subsequently accepted to carry out a PV session in Karachi, in July 2009.
The aim of the workshop was to educate stakeholders and contribute to the sustainable energy industry at grassroots level, a task that it was able to achieve with the help of a group consisting twenty unemployed people, who were given PV modules using tested methods developed by Komp. The workshop was organised by a local NGO, Galaxy of Youth (GOY), while Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Pakistan (IEEEP) and AEDB also contributed to the venture.
However, many believe that a major drawback of a PV system is its relatively high initial investment, estimated to be about Rs20,000 per 60W panel. Detractors claim that if the system has a 25-year life-span, with battery replacements every two to three years, the cost of electricity generated is roughly twice that is supplied by the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC).
