Steam Center Blog

  S olar and wind power farms are natural combinations and when either is used alone a full use of the potential is not achieved nor is the maximum possible economy attained. Wind mill farms do not shade the ground significantly and that can then be utilized for placing solar PV panels. The processing and distribution of electricity so generated is shared by common infrastructure and leads to greater economy than either used alone. Such hybrid systems have potential to be very successful in areas with good wind and solar energy. The wind does not blow all the time nor does the sun shine all the time, solar and wind power alone are poor power sources. Hybridizing solar and wind power sources together and connecting to a grid or with storage batteries to cover the periods of time without sun or wind provides realistic forms of power generation. The system can also create a stand-alone energy source that is both dependable and consistent without the availability of a...

This author was delighted to find a bold advertisement in the morning newspaper that said “The ministry of New and renewable Energy has launched a national level Grid connected rooftop and small power plant program to promote Grid Connected Rooftop Solar PV systems from 1kWp to 500kWp in residential, commercial and institutional sectors ---- you can also release excess power to the grid and profit from the generation” The announcement also gave a URL    http://re-invest.in .   It goes without saying that there will be some teething problems as the policy is rolled out as happens with every new initiative especially of such a large scale but these should get ironed out in due course. This blogger is proud to having been the first to have campaigned for it by earlier articles on the issue ( see here and here ) and then persistently communicating the links to the concerned authorities. Much Kudos to the new Government of Shri Narendra Modi for hav...

Solar Energy A n earlier note in this blog described how Solar Photo Voltaic systems are mankind’s energy hopes for the future. There is an even more desperate need for it in India where insufficient electricity production is holding back the development of the country. Just as a human cannot perform without sufficient food, a modern economy cannot progress without sufficient electricity, nor can the quality of life of humans improve without it. While India is making progress in policies for solar parks, a more advantageous option of roof-top solar energy is being missed. Individual roof-top systems benefit the consumer directly, save on precious land resources and eliminate transmission losses. However before it becomes feasible a roof-top policy is required. The three things required for this are A policy to permit individual home-owners to link their solar PV systems to the grid so that they can draw from the grid or feed into it while getting credi...

A s the planet runs out of fossil fuels, humans need to find viable alternatives to produce energy and electricity if they are not to return to the dark ages again. Already rising fuel costs are putting a strain on humans. Aside from temporary ups and downs this strain is bound to increase in future since simply put, we reduce the amount of available fossil fuel every day we live while no new such fuel is being produced. It takes millions of years for mother earth to produce these fuels that have driven modern civilization over the past few centuries. Photovoltaic systems that produce electricity with help of sunshine are emerging as a promising alternative. The primary difficulty so far has been cost but their costs have been coming down over the past few years. Already for certain applications they have become competitive with traditional methods. For example the cost of electricity from these solar cells is cheaper than diesel generator sets for stand alone operations s...