Category: Solar Energy News

Diesel Generator vs Solar Generators

Post author By AWPS Renewable Energy
Post date December 13, 2013

Criteria	Diesel Generator	Solar Generator
System Type	Portable diesel generator set	Portable Solar generator
Cost	Lower initial cost, high running costs due to fuel consumption	High initial cost, virtually free for lifetime.
Maintenance	Require periodic maintenance such as oiling of parts and replacement of moving parts	Minimum maintenance required due to no moving parts.
Pollution	Noisy, smoke discharge and greasy residues.Also harmful for the environment	Soundless, no discharges.Environmentally friendly.
Efficiency	Will consume fuel and produce constant energy regardless of load consumption. Most of this energy is wasted.	Will store extra energy and supply it when required. All energy is utilized.
Cost per kWh	Increases with fuel prices	Free after sometime.
Return on Investment	None	Cheaper than grid power over its lifetime.
Reliability in Rugged Conditions	Will function when required, but lifetime will be shortened by environment.	Will function when required, and is ideal for sunny countries.
Fueling Costs	Requires fuel to be transported to location and manually inserted into tank	No cost for fuel. It is automatically charging at all times in the sun.
Set Up Time	Will have to be refueled before being used	Deployed in a few minutes.
When Not in Use	Nothing will happen, though fuel level will have to be checked before reuse	The generator will retain charge. It will continue to charge as long as exposed to sunlight.
Towing from Location to New Location	Refueling needed when moved to a new location	Generator will charge en-route, ready to be used when arriving at new location.
Life Time	3-5 years with daily use	Up to 25 years.

Solar Energy News

Solar Generators:- What are they?

Post author By AWPS Renewable Energy
Post date December 9, 2013

A few weeks ago I read that Nigeria had more than 60 million generators. Considering that the average Nigerian experiences less that 3 hours of electricity, you can begin to imagine the noise. I was in Lagos in September and October and I can tell you that it took me over 3 days to sleep through the night. The noise was over whelming.

I am sure you can begin to imagine the pollution from these noise makers. At night the smells from the improperly tuned engines assaults the eyes and the nose. You begin to understand the reason people have perpetual colds. The cost in fuel and repairs are never considered by the average Nigerian. What he looks at is his upfront cost. For N35000 they can purchase a generator. What nobody tells them is that those cheap generators are deadly for laptops, TV and sensitive electronic devices. The power supply for my laptop caught fire while using one of these cheap generators. The other one destroyed my fathers phones and would not charge my Kindle.

How do we resolve this challenge using a renewable resource? The ideal would be for many of these homes to have a permanent and complete Solar installation. The challenge is that most people are very reluctant to cough up the upfront cash. In America we have finance and tax mechanisms that makes Solar affordable. With net metering you get a reduction in your electric bills. In Nigeria there is no such mechanism.

So our solution is a hybrid. A solar generator. It offers portability, lower upfront cost and very minimal cost to run.

What is a Solar Generator?

A solar generator is a box that you can plug into an outlet to provide power to your home. In place of a gasoline or diesel motor, it uses solar panels to generate the power that you use. You purchase a generator, hang the panels outside and you are ready to go. Think about a solar generator as a shrunken version of a complete solar installation.

We carry solar generators. Like gasoline generators they come in different capacities. They are pure sine wave generators that work well with sensitive electronics. Reach out to us for yours..

Solar Energy News

60 Million Nigerian’s own Power Generators – MAN

Post author By AWPS Renewable Energy
Post date November 28, 2013

An estimated 60 million Nigerians now own power generating sets for their electricity, while the same number of people spend a staggering N1.56 trillion ($13.35m ) to fuel them annually.

Chairman of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Imo, Abia Branch, Dr. Frank S.U. Jacobs, made this disclosure, in a chat with Vanguard on the effects of poor public power supply on the industrial growth of the two states (Imo and Abia).

Solar Energy News