Harvesting the Sun for Production

TALKING POINT

Harvesting the sun for production

Words: Daniel Freudiger, General Manager of Sputnik Engineering International

Self-consumption of solar energy is on the rise as Feed-in Tariffs decline and electricity prices go up. This is an interesting option, not only for house-owners, but also for companies and communities as the case of the AmeyCespa waste treatment plant shows. Power Purchase Agreements are one way to use the energy of the sun without having to deal with a high initial investment.

Grid parity is already a reality in several Until now, one barrier for house-owners is production machines, air conditioning, European countries. A study of the PV Parity that they would need a battery storage emergency lighting or similar devices. The Project, supported by the European system in order to be able to consume a calculation for the use of a PV plant is Commission, which was published in significant part of their own electricity. also different for enterprises than for November 2012, investigated the situation of However, the investment costs for the individual consumers. Companies often photovoltaic electricity generation in eleven battery raise the overall price of the have special electricity tariffs that are far countries and concluded that grid parity has self-produced energy. Nevertheless, cheaper than those that are offered to been reached already in some regions in according to Prof. Volker Quaschning, a households. Therefore, self-consumption Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. German PV expert, this could change has become a topic for them only more For Great Britain, as well as France, Greece during the next three to four years for recently, with falling module prices and and the Czech Republic, the report predicts Germany, with dropping prices for storage rising uncertainty regarding the future grid parity by the end of the decade. systems. He sees a potential of 35.000MW energy offer from fossil fuels. But also of newly installed residential PV plants that another factor is of greater importance for The International Renewable Energy would be profitable without any monetary enterprises than for individual customers: Agency (IRENA) has come to similar compensation. The Spanish Solar Society planning reliability. conclusions in a paper about the price already has presented a strategy for the development of renewable energies, It is not even necessary that the company promotion of self-consumption. published nearly at the same time. It states invests in and owns the PV plant providing that the price for photovoltaic modules has The demand profile of companies is its electricity. Via a Power Purchase fallen by 60 per cent between 2010 and different and even more favourable for the Agreement (PPA), a third-party developer, 2012. The installed costs of residential PV use of self-produced solar energy. In who owns, operates and maintains the systems have dropped by a similar rate in contrast to households, which use energy system, sells the produced electricity to the some countries. Together with two other mostly in the evening, their main energy host customer, who in most cases agrees factors – rising electricity prices in many consumption falls together with the hours in to the construction of the plant on its countries combined with falling feed-in- which photovoltaic plants produce most of property, e.g. on the roof of the company tariffs for grid-connected PV power plants their energy. So the use of storage systems building. This financial agreement has a – the self-consumption of the produced is not relevant here in most cases, number of advantages, from the lack of energy is becoming an increasingly especially for companies who use up-front capital costs via the monetization attractive option for plant owners. electricity 24/7 because of running of tax incentives to the absence of

36 PES: Europe TALKING POINT

“Self-consumption has become a topic only more recently, with falling module prices and rising uncertainty regarding the future energy offer from fossil fuels”

with 240 Wp. The inverters have been unpredictability of fossil fuel electricity provided by Sputnik Engineering costs can make budgeting and planning for (SolarMax). Twelve inverters of the the future virtually impossible. However, SolarMax 330C-SV series convert direct PPAs have now become a proven way to current into alternating current for the use eliminate much of this uncertainty and cut by the waste treatment plant. “SolarMax energy costs. As we own our plants, we inverters were chosen because we have a specify only premium equipment and good track record with them. We have built maintain it to the highest possible a number of plants together and it is a standards. This ensures optimum output trusted relationship”, states Peter Sermon, and supply to our clients.” VP Sales at Solarcentury. The monitoring Sarah Clover, Local Authority Contracts system is the web-based data logger Manager for AmeyCespa East, said: “As a MaxWeb xp which enables the location- company which prides itself not only on independent monitoring and regulation of innovation, but working closely with the the SolarMax inverters. It records current communities in which we are based, measured values, yield data, and events AmeyCespa is delighted to be involved in and transmits these to the MaxWeb Portal. this partnership to make use of a local Frans van den Heuvel, CEO of Solarcentury, source of renewable energy. Minimising our said: “We are all incredibly excited about impact on the environment is at the heart of this project. Rather than the plant being everything we do, and using solar energy to connected to export into the grid, there has power our facilities demonstrates our been significant engineering work to provide commitment to reducing our carbon maintenance responsibilities – all reducing three kilometres of cabling from the plant footprint.” the risk for the host of the PV plant. running directly to local waste management Daniel Freudiger, General Manager of company AmeyCespa.” He added: “Unlike AmeyCespa’s waste management park in Sputnik Engineering International most utility scale ground mounted solar the small town of Waterbeach in (SolarMax), said: “The project at Chittering plants in the country, this solar plant Cambridgeshire has recently become the has been a success and we are very happy prioritises the use of electricity by first solar-powered waste treatment plant in that we have just inaugurated a second AmeyCespa’s facilities first, with minimal the UK. Lightsource Renewable Energy and project at the site with Solarcentury which excess energy being fed back into the Solarcentury installed the 5MW was connected to the grid end of March. national grid. We expect to see many more photovoltaic plant three kilometres from the The new plant has a capacity of 6.3MW and commercial projects of this nature in the waste treatment company, at the hamlet of uses 15 of the recently released SolarMax future as organisations become increasingly Chittering. The solar park is built in a central inverters of the 360TS-SV series, aware of fixed, low cost solar power.” discreet location and is not visible from the placed in eight SolarMax Compact Stations main road. The solar panels are mounted Lightsource supplies this ‘green’ energy to for the easy outdoor installation.” on fixed frames with a 25 degree slope and the waste management company through a The described project shows that within the facing to the south, and are low profile Power Purchase Agreement for 25 years. current market situation, new models of extending to only 2.2 metres above ground For a high electricity user like AmeyCespa energy use, including the use of self- level. Each row of panels is set around eight this model is favourable, not only by cutting generated photovoltaic energy, become metres apart to prevent overshadowing electricity costs, but also providing better attractive for new customer groups. With each other. The plant that started control and predictability on budget grid parity in sight in many countries, in the producing power in June 2012 generates up forecasting. Nick Boyle, CEO of Lightsource future many companies will make to 4,552MWh annually, which is sufficient said: “It goes without saying that energy themselves independent from energy energy to power the equivalent of over prices are set to continue to rise in the utilities and an uncertain situation in the 1,200 homes. Thereby, the solar park will coming years. According to current UK global energy market. provide over 70 per cent of the energy used Power Index estimates from DECC, we are by AmeyCespa’s facility. set to experience a 5-8% increase per annum from conventional suppliers. Aside The photovoltaic power plant consists of from the expense, if you are in heavy 20,000 solar modules from JA solar, each industry or the public sector, the www.solarmax.com