Affordable eBikes

Something unusual happened today - I stopped to gawk at a bicycle. 

It was a mildly smoggy winter morning in Noida, and I was driving down one of those long, flat, tree-lined service roads running parallel to the expressway when I went past a man riding a bicycle. On the face of it this was nothing out of the ordinary - the bicycle was one of those black, clunky, mass-produced models and the man seemed like a factory employee, with his head covered in a muffler, a small bag on his back, going down the road - except for the fact that he was not pedalling his bicycle!

I did a double-take, noticed a neat white bracket behind his seat, and realised that this one was running on a battery - an ordinary bicycle in its new avatar as an electric bike.

Having never seen such a thing before, I pulled up a little ahead, and requested him to stop. The cyclist gladly obliged, and with the pleased look of a man accustomed to such attention, explained that he had got this fitting at a workshop in Badarpur, Delhi. It had cost him about INR 15,000 and that the battery lasted him quite comfortably for his 40 km commute everyday.

These units are manufactured by new company called Accelero Cycles India Ltd., and sold under the brandname "eBik". Founded by a youngster named Anant Jain, this startup aims to make 'affordable, eco-friendly, motorised mobility for everyone'. 

How will ACIL take on established companies like Hero Cycles which has come out with a range of electric bicycles under the brandname "Lectro"? Is there sufficient demand for retro-fitted budget cycles? Does the enterprise have a network of service centres? As of now not there is not much information about this company in the public domain. 

The answers to these questions may unfold in the days to come, but one thing is sure - as of now, the company has at least one happy brand ambassador on this side of Yamuna!

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REFERENCES & LINKS

* eBik - https://ebik.in/product.html 

Solar: Upstream and Downstream

Amazing things are happening in India's renewable energy market - especially solar power.

Yesterday , it was reported that at an auction of a 250 MW capacity plant at Bhadla (Rajasthan), South Africa’s Phelan Energy Group and Avaada Power bid INR 2.62 (USD 0.04) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to win contracts to build capacities of 50MW and 100MW, respectively, at Adani Renewable Energy Park Rajasthan Ltd. This is a new record low. The bidding wars seem to have now reached a point where experts are wondering if it is commercially viable to produce produce power at these rates.

If the unit price is surprising, so is the sheer scale of the new 'solar farms' that are coming up. The current world record the world's largest solar project in a single location is now held by Adani's 648-megawatt Kamuthi plant (near Marurai, Tamil Nadu), which went online in September, 2016. The second largest solar plant, the Topaz Solar Farm in California, has a capacity of 550 megawatts.

For a country that located in the tropics, India has a huge potential for switching over to solar energy. Consider these facts -

• The solar  radiation incident over India is equal to 4–7 kWh per square meter per day with an annual radiation ranging from 1200–2300 kWh per square meter. 
• It has an average of 250–300 clear sunny days and  2300–3200 hours  of sun shine per  year. 
• India's electricity needs can be met on a total land area of 3000 km2  which  is  equal  to  0.1%  of  total  land  in  the country 
• Currently  India is  generating  4.59%  of solar energy  of  total  produced  renewable  energy  installed capacity in India

Over the past few years, thanks to a concerted push by the government, India has quadrupled its solar-generation capacity from 2,650 MW on 26 May 2014 to 12,289 MW in 10 March 2017.  Yet, behind all these impressive numbers, fact remains that present and future growth is completely hinged on the import of equipment from China. In 2015-16, the value of imported solar cells and modules tripled to $2.34 billion, with China accounting for 83 per cent ( $1.9 billion).

Despite having a dedicated Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for the past 15 years, why is it that India has not been able to it own supply chains? Why is it that Indian manufacturers have no access to domestic upstream raw material supplies of poly-silicon and wafers?

According to a KPMG report (2015), India has not been able to create economies of scale in solar manufacturing, mainly due to insufficient government support - loans, tax holidays, subsidized utility services, easy access to land and technology support.

Is that a rather simplistic view?


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REFERENCES & LINKS

* (2017) Wire - Why Increasing India’s Solar Energy Capacity Won’t Work -- https://thewire.in/116842/solar-energy-india-capacity/

* (2017) Mint - http://www.livemint.com/Industry/MKI7QvOhpRoBAtw3d4PM5K/South-African-firm-bid-takes-solar-power-tariffs-to-new-low.html

* (2017) - Solar panel imports - https://www.zauba.com/import-solar-panel-hs-code.html -- HSCode - 39209919

* (2017) - http://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/pm-modi-calls-for-all-solar-power-city-model-stresses-job-creation-4648770/

* (2016-Dec) -- http://indianexpress.com/article/india/indias-87-per-cent-solar-cell-imports-from-china-in-april-september-piyush-goyal-4417312/

* (2016) - BL - Import of solar panels triples in 2015-16 -  http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/import-of-solar-panels-triples-in-201516/article8788743.ece

* (2016) - Adani's Kamuthi Solar Power Project - http://www.ecowatch.com/india-solar-market-2118202661.html

* (2016) - India's solar energy push to generate 1 mn green jobs -- http://www.business-standard.com/content/b2b-manufacturing-industry/india-s-solar-energy-push-to-generate-1-mn-green-jobs-116021500523_1.html
- Report by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) -- ‘Filling the skill gap in India’s clean energy market: Solar energy focus’
- The country will need new skilled workforce & training to achieve its ambitious national target to add 100 gigawatts (GW) of installed solar energy by 2022
- one million new engineers, technicians, solar installers, maintenance workers and performance data monitors
- International Solar Alliance (ISA) -  alliance of more than 120 solar-rich countries aims to facilitate widespread deployment of solar power and supporting knowledge exchange on manufacturing and skills.

* (2015) - DTE - WTO rules against India in Domestic Contents Reqirements for the Solar Industry -- http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wto-rules-against-india-s-domestic-content-requirements-in-solar-power-50977
- Indian manufacturing capacity of solar cells and modules is limited to 1,386 MW and 2,756 MW respectively. The Mission's target at the time of the complaint stood at 10,000 MW to be achieved in the period from 2013 to 2017.
- Since the solar target has been revised to 100,000 MW or 100 GW by the Modi government, the target now stands at 29,000 MW.

* (2015) - Research Paper - Potential of Solar Energy in India - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306034848_Potential_of_Solar_Energy_in_India_A_Review
-  The solar  radiation incident over India is equal to 4–7 kWh per square meter per day with an annual radiation ranging from 1200–2300 kWh per square meter.
- It has an average of 250–300 clear sunny days and  2300–3200 hours  of sun shine per  year.
- India's electricity needs can be met on a total land area of 3000 km2  which  is  equal  to  0.1%  of  total  land  in  the country

Potential of Solar Energy in India
- Currently  India is  generating  4.59%  of solar energy  of  total  produced  renewable  energy  installed capacity in India

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* India Solar Resource Maps - http://mnre.gov.in/sec/solar-assmnt.htm
* NREL - National Renewable Energy Lab - http://www.nrel.gov/international/ra_india.html

* International Solar Alliance (ISA) - http://intsolaralliance.org/

* (2016) Yes Bank - Compendium of Global Success Stories in Solar - http://intsolaralliance.org/docs/CompendiumofGlobalSuccessStoriesinSolarEnergy.pdf

* (2015) - KPMG Solar Manufacturing Report - http://www.energetica-india.net/download.php?seccion=articles&archivo=3Eksv7L8BosildPLOdK84G1zZk6Ew1co6BVp8hm0LThwxw9APH9HOx8.pdf

* Wiki - List of solar manufacturing companies - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_photovoltaics_companies

Zero Energy Building

A rather unusual looking building came up in South Delhi a couple of years ago. Amidst other, conventional government buildings in the Jor Bagh area, "Paryavaran Bhavan", the new office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), looks as though its wearing a graduation cap.

A  closer look reveals that the cap is actually an elongated, cantilevered roof which holds a vast array of solar panels. This seven-storied tower covering 32,000 sq.m, and accommodating over 600 government officials is India's first "Net Zero Energy" building. The solar panels generate 930 KWp of power, which is more than enough to meet its annual energy requirements of 1.4 million Units at 9KWh. The building actually generates a surplus of about 70,000 KWh which diverted back into the grid.

According to MoEF, this "Multi-storied Building with 100% Onsite Power Generation", is the first of its kind in India. Apart from those solar panels on the roof, it uses a Chilled Beam System of air conditioning which saves more than 50% in energy consumption. The building incorporates a Geothermal Heat Exchange System as well as seven "Machine Room Gearless Lifts (OTIS) that converts braking energy into electrical energy (regenerative brakes, as in automobiles). The building also has its own plants for water and sewage treatment -- in other words, it neither takes any energy from outside, neither does it dump its waste into the city's drains.

Who were the people behind such a pioneering effort? How did the usually hidebound CPWD, with its record of making dreadful looking public buildings actually undertake this leap of faith and technical flourish?

Unfortunately, there seems to be nothing in the 'public domain' that either chronicles, or celebrates this achievement. The CPWD website (accessed 19 April 2017), does have a  button titled "Click Here for Old PPTs", and this does lead to a list of projects that includes this building. None of the URLs work.

Dig a little deeper at other websites (ICFILD, CSE) and you would find that CPWD did indeed lack in-house expertise for such a project. So the government did the the next best thing - it employed competent consulting agencies for each of the specialized aspects of this project. CPWD then brought in its formidable project management skills and completed this building in just two years' time (Jan. 2011-Oct 2013). Among them was Deependra Prashad's DPAP -  the architecture firm that designed this building.

Is this new approach going to be the new norm in public works? Have we finally graduated to better designed public buildings?


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LINKS & REFERENCES

- MOEF Pamphlet - "A New Benchmark in Sustainable Built Habitat"
- CPWD - PPT - Technical Presentation - http://cpwd.gov.in/CPWDNationBuilding/InaugurationPM25.02.2014/Technical_Presentation.ppt
- Case Study (2014) - http://icfild.org/ire2014/seminar/06_deependra_prasad/spa_ipb_deependra.pdf
- Ramachandran, Smriti Kak (2012) - A Green Revolution in Letter and Spirit - http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/a-green-revolution-in-letter-and-in-spirit/article3820306.ece

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VITAL STATS

Capacity of power generation: 930 KWp
Annual energy requirement and generation: 14 Lakh Units 9KWh
Total area covered by solar panels: 4600 sqm
Building plinth area: 32,000 sqm
Structure: G + 7 floors + 3 basements
Solar Panels: Covering 4600 sqm, monocrystalline with 20% efficiency
Amenities: 440 TR HVAC Air Conditioning; Lifts, Fire Alarm System; DG Sets, UPS, IBMS and CCTV Systems; Fully automatic robotic car parking for 330 cars
Architecture, Planning and Execution: Central Public Works Department (CPWD)
Cost: INR 209 Cr. (USD 32.4 million)

Solar Lighting a Dark Stairwell

How much does it take to set up a solar-powered system?

I've been mulling over the installation of a solar-based back-up for a while now. For starters, I wanted to install a self-contained system that automatically lights up our building stairwell. 

The problem is quite straightforward: We stay in an apartment complex that has about 30 towers (4x4 houses each), without a central power back-up. Each apartment has a stairwell that is vulnerable to power outages. At night - especially in winters - it becomes particularly difficult for the children and the elderly to use the staircases.

From whatever little I have gathered so far from the net, a solar-panel based lighting system would require: solar panels, a charge Controller, a deep discharge battery, wiring (4mm), a light-activated switch, and a panel of LED lights.

What I do not know for sure - and this is an ongoing challenge -  are questions for which I am yet to find dependable advise:

• How do I align the panels on the terrace so that they can be installed - and maintained -  easily?
• The most appropriate configuration of panel + controller + battery + LED panels?
• Which is a reliable place from where I can buy the components?

At least in NCR Delhi, it is difficult to find somebody who can guide you. The shopkeepers and aggregators always want to sell you the biggest system possible, whether you need it or not. They are all chasing contracts from big-ticket clients - the railways, public-sector companies, large housing complexes to keep the assembly lines running. Companies like Simpa Networks are building models that resemble telecom service providers. Not for them the one-time pocket-change from individual residences.

Reliability is also an issue. Almost none of the components comes with a performance guarantee. The usual refrain is "electronic cheez hai, kuch bhi ho sakta hai..." (its electronic stuff - anything can go wrong!). Not an encouraging start for people who see this as a long-term investment in clean energy.

Amongst all the people I have met, the most sensible advise came from a marketing executive at Maharshi Vedic Construction. His point was simple - longevity of any equipment depends on how you go about maintaining it. He gave the example of an inverter he has installed at home 17 years ago. According to him, regular vacuum cleaning and greasing is all it takes to make electrical equipment last longer. Clearly he had a point.

Yet, even as a manufacturer of solar panels and controllers, he could not offer a formal performance guarantee for the stuff he was selling. His panels cost INR40/Wa, so a 60Wa panel cost INR2400. The controllers were available only for 10A and 20A with a starting price of INR1100 (note: the 10A model came with a useful USB charging port).

Ultimately, I ended up buying the following stuff from the electonics wholesale market at Bhagirathi Palace, Old Delhi:

- Solar Panel Tata BP - 60Wa (INR 1200)

- Charge Controller - (INR 250)

- LED lights set - 12W (INR 150)

- Twilight Switch - 12V, 6A (INR 368) - from Electrocine Corp, 1801/5-6, Bhagirath Palace

- Copper wire (INR 160 for 10m - Kalinga Gold 4mm copper wire) 

- Battery - 26Ah, 12V

I was about to purchase a new 28Ah battery when a friend offered to pass on an old battery he was going to dump anyway. It has been purchased a year ago but seemed to have got completely discharged due to non-use. It took three about three days for the voltage to climb over 12V.

Apart from the battery glitch, the system seems to be working beautifully. 

Now, only a few questions remain: The battery runs out of juice in just four hours...is the LED panel drawing out more power than 12W? Or is it just an old, deep-discharged SMF battery acting up? How does one measure the W/h remaining in a battery unit?

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Vendor's Contacts:

* DC Twilight Switch - Electrocine Sales Corp, 1801/5-6 Electrical Market, Bhagirati Palace - www.escorp.in 

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LINKS & REFERENCES

* Bijli Bachao - solar panels in India - https://www.bijlibachao.com/solar/solar-panel-cell-cost-price-list-in-india.html

* Understanding Solar Power - an excellent resource that brings "Solar Power to Ordinary People"-- https://livingonsolarpower.wordpress.com/  

* Instructables - Solar charges with day-night switch - http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-charger-with-day-night-switch-v2/

- 2N3904 NPN Transistor, linked to photo transistor and then using a 100k pot to regulate the sensitivity level.
- Day-night switch - http://www.ebay.in/itm/222242083233?aff_source=Sok-Goog
- INR 292 on EBay

- Solar charge controllers - https://www.batterystuff.com/solar-chargers/charge-controllers/

Shutdown in Japan

Three years ago this month, we were huddled in an evacuation center in Western Japan, bracing for the next aftershock.

A television flickered to life, and a newsreader wearing a bright yellow helmet, announced that there had been explosions at a nuclear power plant a 100 miles away.  In the days and weeks that followed there were extended power outages. People in the Kanto area were advised not to waste electricity. Escalators stopped working at metro stations, lighting in public buildings was reduced to a bare minimum.

Japan's power situation then turned from bad to worse as all its nuclear plants were shut down one-by-one. Import of fossil fuel shot up.

What is the situation now?

The loss of nuclear capacity resulted in a shift in Japan's energy mix toward oil and natural gas. Japan is now the third largest oil consumer and importer in the world behind the United States and China. It also ranks as the world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and second largest importer of coal behind China.

(source - EIA, 2013)

The import comes to about 18 quadrillion (10^15) BTU every year.

How long can this be sustained?



LINKS

- EIA on Japan - http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=13711
- EIA on India -- http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=IN
- Japan - Rising Trade Deficit -- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-26/japan-record-annual-trade-deficit-shows-import-drag-on-recovery.html
- Difference between CNG / LPG / LNG -- http://www.afsglobal.com/faq/gas-comparisons.html