Solar power setup for your home in Thailand

[poosmate]

I have a friend in the Uk a one man band plumber who decided to start selling solar equipment 7 years ago. He has just sold his company to Travis Perkins for 8 Million Pounds. here
The company is presently finalizing a deal with a large insurance company who are investing their pension fund in solar energy funded by domestic installations. The profit ( now reduced from around 25%) returned is around 12%.
Solar panels have got much cheaper and more efficient and as someone else pointed out have a long life.
Energy is seen by many as a good investment platform and inroads into solar farms are already being made in parts of Thailand.When and if the Thai government starts to realise the potential and some MP or similar works out that money is to be made encouraging consumers to "go green" we may see the same opportunity that Europe is having such as grant increased feed in tariffs.
Even without this help a system connected to the grid that would pay for itself in 5 years and have a life of around 20 years sound like good news to me.
And another poster quoted that the west has far higher electricity rates? This may be true but consumption with pools and aircon make for higher consumption and and percentage saving must be considered imo.My bill is around 12000 Baht per month - 10% saving through solar ( a conservative estimate ) would pocket me 15000 Baht per year its a start.

[Nereus]

Worlds biggest oil producer goes solar:
..................................................................
Analysis - Oil saving win-win drives Saudi solar power boom

DUBAI (Reuters) - A slide in solar power costs and a surge in oil prices over the last few years has made solar power a win-win strategy for Saudi Arabia: saving billions of dollars of crude for export while making electricity at less than half the cost.

Riyadh plans to install 41,000 megawatts (MW) of solar power over the next 20 years, but to date has built only 12 MW - or less than even Britain installed in early May.

Despite year round sunshine, the oil and gas rich countries of the Gulf have lagged far behind most of the world in solar power - so far. Saudi energy officials have talked of becoming major solar players for years, but while China built 5,000 MW in 2012 alone, Saudi solar capacity is still insignificant.

That is set to change, with an economic argument too strong to ignore.

"Saudi Arabia is determined to diversify its energy sources and reduce its dependence on hydrocarbons," said Wail Bamhair, the project manager for the Saudi team that visited the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) last week.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wo ... ower-boom/

(article to big to clutter up this thread)

[STEVE G]

This may be true but consumption with pools and aircon make for higher consumption and and percentage saving must be considered imo.My bill is around 12000 Baht per month - 10% saving through solar ( a conservative estimate ) would pocket me 15000 Baht per year its a start.

Yes, that could be a consideration for just using solar to run something like a pool or well pump during daylight hours to reduce the amount of upper tariff electricity that you have to pay for.

[PeteC]

I see quite a few roof units with tank attached exclusively for hot water. They've been around for a few decades. I'm assuming it's a gravity flow right into the upstairs showers. I think they come as a unit and all one has to do is install it on the roof, make your roof holes, and hook it up to your plumbing. There's also a pressure relief hose on the tank and on very hot days it spouts like a whale when the pressure builds up too high. Pete

[deepee]

Buksi,
there's an Aglo-Thai company that I have heard about, have not dealt with them yet but looks like a pretty interesting prospect,
http://www.saveenergyasia.com/

[Takiap]

I see quite a few roof units with tank attached exclusively for hot water. They've been around for a few decades. I'm assuming it's a gravity flow right into the upstairs showers. I think they come as a unit and all one has to do is install it on the roof, make your roof holes, and hook it up to your plumbing. There's also a pressure relief hose on the tank and on very hot days it spouts like a whale when the pressure builds up too high. Pete

Pete we were living in Samut Sakhon our water came from communal tanks that were several meters of the ground on a tower-like structure. If I remember correctly, they were stainless steel tanks (I could be wrong), and the water that came out of our taps was so hot we couldn't even stand under the shower. We had to get a huge bucket and then keep it topped up so that we could all shower Thai style. During the rainy season when there wasn't much sun, we could sometimes stand under the shower, but certainly not very often.

I'm actually thinking of doing something similar here where we stay now, but obviously the water will only feed hot water taps so it'll require some additional plumbing work.

[brianks]

Two years ago I checked into solar power for pool pump and calculated the payback would be about 7 years. Not too bad but the kicker was that seller said you should also have another conventionally elect. driven pump for when there were clouds and panels could not generate enough electricity. Now that little revelation brought the payback to many more years down the road in addition to more equipment and hassles.

With as little electricity as the instant hot water heaters use combined with the warm water temperatures here, I can't imagine those roof top water heaters would be cost effective at all. I hardly use any hot water for shower or sink now.

[buksida]

Thanks for the link deepee, will contact them but won't hold my breath!

We very rarely use the hot water here also so not much point in that. Its such a shame in a country blessed with sunshine most of the time that solar energy is so prohibitively expensive.

[traveller2]

I know that this is a solar power thread but has anyone considered geo-thermal power. The temp difference between ground and several metres deep should be enough and the temperature difference is constant day and night giving constant generation potential. An electrical boffin friend of mine says that it is possible, inexpensive, maintenance free and easy to do. Of course it needs to be a house with space around to bury the pipes. Does anyone know if my boffin friend is on the right track. Basically pipe work radiators buried around the house with heat exchangers and pump???

Becoming more common in the UK.

Ive seen them laid in large coils in 2 metre deep trenches. Its a lot of piping, but quite effective when in use, so im told.

T2

[STEVE G]

Its such a shame in a country blessed with sunshine most of the time that solar energy is so prohibitively expensive.

One of the reasons that the economics are against it is because electricity is subsidised by the Thai government at the moment. Of course, a big unknown is if that will always be the case as the country becomes more prosperous over the years and what will be the rate of inflation over the life of the system.

[buksida]

It wont always be subsidised, Burma wants their own power back so Thailand will put the prices up to cover the cost of building more power stations. I have a feeling they have already - our bill has doubled since the beginning of the year for similar consumption.

Another disapointment is that the government have no interest whatsoever in subsidising green eco-friendly alternatives.

[Gregga]

Another disapointment is that the government have no interest whatsoever in subsidising green eco-friendly alternatives.

In other words the do have some other INTEREST that won't allow any eco-friendly alternatives
However there is one functioning German-Thai company that still working on Koh Samui They work mainly with private homes. Others seems to vanish over time.

[Pagey]

There is an article on solar power in Thailand on the front page of the Life section of todays Bkk Post.

They are putting what appear to be solar panels on the roof of the new G resort on the corner of Soi 94.

[Nereus]

This might interest some, but even at the buyback rate quoted, I think the break even would be a lot longer than they are claiming.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/new ... f-licences

Applicants queue for solar roof licences

With great expectations that solar rooftops will become the next promising energy sector, more than 1,000 applicants queued for licences in Bangkok on Monday. ............................

[oakdale160]

Anybody seen any solar powered attic fans?