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• 2008-Apr-6 - Pakistani Solar Panels Today!
As people run helter-skelter to get their hands on generators and invertors or Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) to cope with frequent power breakdowns and massive load-shedding, there has emerged a handy alternative to cater to their problems. Solar energy, which is being used selectively in the rural areas of the country, is an alternative that has the propensity to revolutionise the way the power-deprived citizens of the provincial capital deal with their electricity woes.
Here in Karachi, Azhar Ayub is the man trying to promote this fledging alternative by putting together solar-powered lights, fans, mobile chargers and several other products as per the needs of not only the people of Karachi but the entire country.
Sitting in his make-shift workshop in the SITE industrial area, Ayub prepares solar-powered systems, as per needs of his customers, by assembling imported Photovoltaic (PV) cells — or solar panels, — special batteries, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), wind turbines and other equipment.
“Hundreds of people in the remote areas of Sindh and Balochistan are using solar lanterns, mini solar desalination plants for water purification and solar-wind hybrid systems to light their homes. The technology is quite expensive but it is environment-friendly and ideal for remote areas,” Ayub tells the The News.
Despite being a business graduate, Ayub claims that research and promotion of alternate energy is his passion.
He admits that the most important components of his solar-powered systems are the PVs (solar panels), which are imported either from Europe, the US, China or even India. He says however, that he personally designs and assembles the solar energy units at his workshop in accordance with local needs.
“Actually, the production of PV cells that convert sunlight into electricity requires an investment of billions of dollars and nobody in Pakistan is ready to make such huge investment. The technology is in the grip of oil giants and they are not allowing it to get cheaper,” he claims.
After the entrance of China and India into the field of production of solar panels, however, the cost has decreased to a large extent and now solar energy is coming into the reach of common people, Ayub says optimistically.
Elaborating on the products available at his workshop, Ayub tells The News that he has complete solar home systems through which several rooms can be lit up for up to 10 hours in addition to which one or two fans of 60 watts can also be powered.
Moreover, there are also solar garden lights and street lights, solar mobile chargers, water heaters and even solar water desalination plants that run using only sunlight, he adds.
“People come to me from the rural areas of Sindh like Badin, remote districts of Balochistan and NWFP for power solutions and I provide them equipment to light their homes as well as water desalination plants and even solar-wind hybrid systems” he claims.
Ayub argues that in countries such as Pakistan, the solution to power shortage lies in people generating their own electricity. “At least a person can afford solar-electricity to power at least two lights and two fans for his small house up to a period of 30 years without any worries.”
Ayub deplores that currently, no research is underway in Pakistan, even by the Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB), to promote solar and wind energy in Pakistan as authorities and academicians as well as local industrialists lack awareness of alternate energy sources.
“In the name of research, our students prepare idiotic projects to get marks in exams; people write theses only to acquire a Ph.D. Research needs money, government patronage, facilities and resources, which are all lacking in Pakistan” he says.
Bitterly criticizing AEDB officials, he charges them with “doing business” instead of promoting alternate energy resources and cites various countries, including India, where government institutions not only ‘invent’ products but also and provide them to people on easy installments.
“Solar energy is an expensive technology but it is a one-time investment and also very user- and environment-friendly. In India, government institutions provide such products on lease so that people can afford them. In Pakistan, people are making money through them,” he explains.
On the other hand, Ayub openly admits even his failure in promoting windmills or wind turbines in Pakistan, saying that the best solution to power problems in Pakistan lies in a hybrid system that harnesses both solar and wind energies. Such a system, according to him, could cater to all the power needs of an average domestic household.
“Through a solar-wind hybrid system, all electrical appliances used in a domestic house, except air conditioners, can be powered,” he says, adding that a solar-wind electricity generating system was the best but also a bit expensive as an alternate to generators and UPSs.
According to him, although windmills produce a lot more electricity than solar panels, there were many technical problems associated with them. “Air remains stationary for four months — October to February — in Pakistan and in those months, wind turbines would fail to produce the required electricity.” |
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