Sparks Electrical News May 2018

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

17

ENGIE AND MERIDIAM WIN TWO SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC PROJECTS IN SENEGAL ENGIE and investment partner Meridiam have been selected by Senegal’s Electricity Sector Regulation Commission (CRSE) as preferred bidder in a tender launched in October 2017 for two solar photovoltaic projects totalling 60 MW. These two projects are part of the Scaling Solar initiative in Senegal, conducted jointly by the Senega- lese authorities and the International Finance Corpo- ration (‘IFC’, member of the World Bank Group). Yoven Moorooven, CEO of Engie Africa, said, “Our consortium delivered a highly competitive offer by leveraging our experience of developing and operat- ing renewable energy projects in Africa – in particular in Senegal. This success demonstrates the merit of our integrated model for solar whereby Engie acts as investor, operator and EPC contractor through Engie Solar (formerly known as Solairedirect). Our focus will now be on finalising the projects to deliver the most competitive solar photovoltaic plants, to serve the country’s ambition of developing universal electricity access in a sustainable manner.” In Senegal, Engie is already involved in a 30 MW solar photovoltaic plant in the town of Santhiou Me- khé and in Ten Merina, a 29.5 MW solar photovoltaic plant in the region of Thiès, near Dakar. In 2017, Engie signed a partnership with Aner, Senegal’s National Renewable Energy Agency which focuses on accel- erating the development of renewable energy in the country. The group is also implementing solar energy solutions for rural households in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon. Engie has been selected for the Dakar TER project in partnership with Thales for the design and production of infrastructure and systems, with a contract amounting to 225 million euros.

APPLE CLAIMS TO BE 100% RENEWABLE-POWERED

T echnology multinational, Apple Inc. has announced that its global operations are now 100% powered by clean energy. Additionally, another nine of Apple’s manufacturing partners have committed to powering their production with 100% clean ener- gy, meaning a total of 23 suppliers have made this commitment. Apple Inc. has announced that its global operations are 100% powered by clean energy. The an- nouncement covers operations in 43 countries, including retail stores, offices, data centres and other facili- ties, in the U.S., India and China. The technology giant also points out that 23 of its suppliers have now made similar commitments to procuring energy from renewable sources. Currently, Apple says that it has 626 MW of renewable energy capacity in operation across the globe, and that it brought 286 MW of solar PV online in 2017. A further 15 projects are in develop-

oped in China to address manu- facturing emissions, multiple PPAs across the U.S., and large-scale rooftop and floating solar projects in both Singapore and Japan.

total have registered for the com- pany’s clean energy portal, which it developed to help suppliers iden- tify commercially viable renewable energy solutions. Apple points out that its commit- ments include more than 485 MW of wind and solar projects devel-

ment, which will bring its capac- ity up to 1.4 GW, spread across 11 countries. The announcement says that a further nine of Apple’s suppliers have also committed to sourcing 100% of their energy from re- newables; and that 85 suppliers in

Enquiries: www.apple.com/ environment/resources

FUSES TO PROTECT PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM COMPONENTS

E ven though photovoltaics have garnered public attention only in recent years and although large solar-driven power plants in the megawatt range have hit the media only recently, the foundation for the break- through of solar energy was laid in 1991, when the Act on the Sale of Electric- ity to the Grid established that energy firms be remunerated for electricity generated from renewable resources. Since then the number of installed PV generators has climbed steeply. From the beginning, Siba fuses have been protecting photovoltaic system components – from power inverters all the way to the wiring. Siba photovoltaic fuses are designed to protect semiconductor

products from harm. Whether for the protection of string inverters, central inverters or di- rectly on modules to protect circuits, manufacturers around the world have been relying on Siba fuses in the area of PV generation for many years. From small-scale house installations to large-scale solar power plants, from bungalow rooftops in Germany to American supermarkets, from sports arenas in Asia all the way to self-sufficient systems in rural India, custom have put their trust in Siba fuses.

Enquiries: www.engie-africa.com

Enquiries: +27 (0) 11 334 6560

THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE CONUNDRUM

E lectric vehicles used to have a set of different challenges for broad adoption. One of them was 'electric vehicle range', which was translated as range anxiety; this is the fear of getting stranded with no battery juice in the middle of your trip. The second one is price and re- sale value. Finally, the availability and convenience of charging stations. Electric vehicle range is im- proving every year and the future promises even further improve- ment. Today, non premium electric cars can achieve 400 km in stand- ard test conditions and at least 300 km in normal use conditions, like the Renault Zoe ZE40. This car was the best seller of pure electric vehicles in 2017 in Europe with ap- proximately 31 000 vehicles sold. In relation to the first generation of battery packs, this new model has doubled the battery capacity to 41 kWh of usable energy, keeping the same battery module size. Other models with similar ranges are the Chevy Bolt with 383 km and the Tesla Model 3 with 354 km. The old barrier of 160 km range is a thing of the past as there are at least seven more models with ranges over this mark. On top of that, in the next 10 years we will see batteries energy density double with next generation battery technologies. The second barrier, price is mov- ing forward in the right direction as batteries, the most expensive com-

frastructure will be required. IDTechEx research has followed the alternative paradigm of energy independence in vehicles. This is accomplished by installing energy harvesting technologies in cars, such as photovoltaic energy. Indeed, elec- tric vehicles can increase their range from 5 to 20 km with the installa- tion of PV panels on the roof. Toyota, IFEVS and Hanergy are among the key players adopting this technol- ogy. If we further push this paradigm with increasing PV energy efficiency, electric cars will be less dependent on charging infrastructure. IDTechEx’s Electric Vehicles: Eve- rything is Changing conference in Berlin, Germany in April will bring together the leading players of the emerging electric vehicle industry.

ponent, will experience dramatic re- ductions in the following years. This will promote further price reduction in electric vehicles, to ensure cost parity with petrol cars very soon. With the emergence of business models that reuse batteries after they finish their useful life in vehi- cles, known as battery second life, the business case for electric cars will further increase. The missing link in the ecosys- tem is now charging infrastructure. This is the next barrier for electric vehicles to confront. Approximately 16 000 public chargers are avail- able in the US, 8 000 in Germany and 4 000 in the UK (in South Af- rica, full numbers are not available, yet Nissan South Africa did say last year that there were at least 90 EV charging stations in the country). If electric vehicles are to be adopted by those who do not necessarily have a garage in which to charge their cars, more public charging in-

By Franco Gonzalez, Principal Analyst at IDTechEx

Enquiries: www.idtechex.com

SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

MAY 2018