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Thoughts on sustainability of PEA Solar Home Systems

Thoughts on sustainability of PEA Solar Home Systems . for PEA 14 Mar, 2548 Chris Greacen Palang Thai www.palangthai.org. Outline. Review of PEA solar home systems in 3 villages in Tak province Karen solar training 17-23 February, 2005 How can we work together to ensure sustainability?

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Thoughts on sustainability of PEA Solar Home Systems

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  1. Thoughts on sustainability of PEA Solar Home Systems for PEA 14 Mar, 2548 Chris Greacen Palang Thai www.palangthai.org

  2. Outline • Review of PEA solar home systems in 3 villages in Tak province • Karen solar training 17-23 February, 2005 • How can we work together to ensure sustainability? • Karen Solar Sustainability Team

  3. Review of PEA solar home systems in 3 villages in Amphur Tha Song Yang, Tak Province • Date visited: 6 Jan, 2005

  4. Good news first! • Large majority of systems (93%) were working • People like them • Systems are well-sized • Installation of wiring in homes done very well

  5. Problems observed(n=105 systems) • Manufacturing defect • Missing connector in module junction box (1 system) • Diode with wrong polarity in module j-box (1 system) • Controller/inverter early failure (2 systems) • Installation defect • PV installed in shaded location (several systems) • Controller installed under leaky roof (1 systems) • User error • Bypass broken controller (several systems) • Bypassed wrong -- reverse polarity burns diode (1 system) • Inverter destroyed by paralleling output of 2 inverters (2 systems) • Difficulty making warranty claim • Villagers do not know who to contact when system breaks under warranty

  6. Manufacturing defect:Missing connector correct missing Consequence: module never worked

  7. Manufacturing defect:Diode with wrong polarity Correct polarity Incorrect polarity Consequence: module never worked

  8. Installation/manufacturing defect:Shaded installation 14:00 Sa Ke Kla village

  9. 1 User error: bypassed controller  battery overcharge • Villager bypasses broken controller and charges battery directly from PV • Battery over-charged. Electrolyte level drops and plates are exposed to air. Battery fails. 2

  10. 1 User error: Controller bypass leads to burned diode • Villager bypasses broken controller and charges battery directly from PV • One mistake of reverse battery polarity blows up bypass diode in PV junction box, melting junction box. 2

  11. Warranty claim problems • If system breaks, villagers don’t know who to contact • Villagers not informed of warranty • 5 year PV module • 3 year controller/inverter • 2 year battery • Some have contacted Tak PEA office, but so far with no result.

  12. Solar electric training 17-23 Feb, 2005 Mae Sa Pau village, Tak Province

  13. Training: Participants build 6 systems

  14. Training: solar site selection

  15. Training: operations and maintenance

  16. Retrofit/repair broken PEA SHS

  17. Repair broken DEDE battery charging station

  18. How PEA can help ensure sustainability… • Encourage installers make sure the system works when it is installed – including electricity coming from PV. • Please provide us with an electronic copy of a spreadsheet of all installations in Tak province, including: • Household number • Village name & number • Amphur • Please suggest to us how we can help villagers to get systems repaired under warranty • For future installations, include GPS coordinates (accurate to 10 meters) for every system installed.

  19. Karen Solar Sustainability Team Basic idea • Training villagers about operations and maintenance AND (2) Training ampur-level technicians to repair systems will… • ensure systems last longer AND (B) save on warranty costs

  20. Ampur Karen Solar Sustainability Team

  21. Karen Solar Sustainability Team • Palang Thai / Green Empowerment provide technical training workshops and hands-on training for technician apprentices • Technicians will: • Survey systems • Fix easy problems • Help process warrantee claims & recycle batteries • Sell distilled water, sell light bulbs, etc. • Train villagers to keep systems working well

  22. Is PEA interested in helping by… • Providing information / coordination? • Providing funding for local technicians? • Making Karen Solar Sustainability Team a warranty repair center?

  23. For more information Contact: Tel. 02-674-2533 chris@palangthai.org www.palangthai.org

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