Solar guide
Dubai: Solar power for homes and buildings has been made available in Dubai
since March 2015. Although demand for it has doubled since March, industry
experts say it is still low compared with other countries.
The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) launched the Shams Dubai
initiative in March to enable individual homeowners and buildings to tap
sunlight to power their homes and buildings. During its launch, 11
establishments and households signed up. Altogether, they can produce
8.5MW of power. This figure has increased to 15MW as of September, six
months after the launch.
Gulf News spoke to industry experts to provide the lowdown on going solar.
Among these is Gundeep Singh, a champion of sustainability and owner of the
world’s most sustainable commercial building in the world, The Change
Initiative on Shaikh Zayed Road.
Signh, who walks and talks sustainability, said the UAE has all the advantages
when going solar. So there is no reason for it not to capitalise on its resources
through harnessing solar power, which has been a maturing sector in
European countries, particularly Germany.
“The amount of radiation average that is received is 1,500 watts per square
metre from the sun, of which the applicable radiation for solar is between 900
to 1,200 watts per square metre in the UAE, compared to Germany which is
around 500 to 800 watts per square metre,” Singh told Gulf News.
“The UAE has 1,900 hours of sunlight in a year while a place like Germany
could have, depending upon which way you look at, between 1,100 to 1,250
hours in a year,” he added.
Producing solar energy is incentivised in many countries. However, in Dubai,
once a household produces solar energy, it can automatically use it. Any
surplus energy will be sent back to the grid and used to offset the producer’s
next bills.
The biggest incentive for Dubai residents is that investing in solar is investing
in the future. It produces clean energy and has a long life span that can give
you returns on investment after a few years.
“Solar will last you 25 to 30 years minimum, and produce electricity every day.
That would be less fuel consumed from carbon resources and that would mean
that you have made a contribution,” Singh said.
1) WHAT is solar energy generation?
Solar energy generation is harnessing the power of the sun through solar
photovoltaic (PV) panels and converting it into electricity without burning
fuel, hence making it a zero-carbon alternative.
WHAT can solar energy power?
It depends on the number of solar panels you have. Each panel produces 250
to 270 watts of electricity. Depending on the number of panels you have, it can
power refrigerators, televisions, music systems, chargers, and lighting.
“For a medium-sized villa, lighting is around 1,200 to 2,000 watts, depending
on what you’re using. So if it’s 2,000 watts, and you want to light up the entire
house, each solar panel produces 250 watts and it’s 1 metre by 1.5 metres, so it
can take, say, six panels and four batteries,” Singh said.
Powering air-conditioning needs a huge amount of input electricity for its
starting load so a few solar panels will not be enough. You will probably need
at least 50 panels, Singh said.
WHAT to do before going solar:
“Greening” your house is essential before going solar. This way you are able to
make prudent use of the green energy you produce. This can be done by:
- If and when you’re repainting your house, use heat-reflective paint
- If expense permits, you can put heat-reflective films on your windows. If not,
you can at least seal the windows
- Install door closers to keep cool air from escaping from the house
- Replace your lights with energy-efficient lighting. As much as you can, bring
the sunlight in to reduce the number of lights you use
- Next time you buy appliances, buy energy-efficient appliances
- Keep the temperature in the house from whatever it is to at least 24 degrees
Celsius. If not 24C, at least 22C to 24C, depending on how comfortable you
feel
- Outside the house, if you have black tiles, try to see if you can change them to
white tiles so that the sides of the house don’t absorb and reflect heat
- Put grass. (If you have a paved backyard or frontyard, turn it green instead).
It reduces the overall heat in the house. At the same time, be aware of how
much water is required for the grass and its maintenance).
2) WHO is best suited to going solar?
Villa owners with disposable income, schools, manufacturing companies or
buildings with a single Dewa account
Currently, Singh has so far installed solar systems for 20 clients in the past
three years. They are mainly government agencies (in Abu Dhabi and Dubai),
villa owners, mostly in Emirates Hills. Emiratis, Westerners and Asians
(mostly Indians) are the common takers.
“A lot of them are very good-intentioned and they would like to make a
difference. Then there’s a reasonable commercial outcome to it. I think if they
can even break even, they’d be fine. Emiratis are very determined, hats off to
them. They definitely want to make a change,” Singh said.
Amin Lakhani, general manager of DuSol, the first solar manufacturing
company in Dubai, said since utility charges in Dubai are not based on a flat
tariff, it makes most sense to go solar for people with high energy
consumption. He refers to residents with electricity use in the red slab with
consumption of 6,0001KWh and above, which essentially has pricier tariff
rates at 38 fils/kWh. After that, they can work their way down to the orange
slab at 32 fils/kWh.
“If you are operating in the red slab, then it makes a lot of sense to be
operating on solar. Essentially, what you’re doing is shaving off the most
expensive electricity. So, if you save more, then you’re going down the orange
and yellow path and you’re saving on the yellow,” Lakhani said.
How about apartment owners?
The current legislation does not have a provision covering solar power for
different apartment owners. According to Dewa, a building owner can install
solar but can only offset electricity consumption of the common areas of the
building (lighting, air-conditioning, elevators etc) measured by his own
meters. Individual tenants can install solar systems for their own use but
charging has to be tied to their own Dewa accounts.
3) WHEN is it best to go solar?
Singh said the “when” depends on the individual. Part of the consideration is
how energy efficient the villa or the building is in the first place. So start
“greening” your villa or building first before thinking solar.
“If you add solar to an inefficient building, you are just exacerbating the
inefficiency,” Singh said.
“Every change in the right direction is a positive change. And we should try to
make a difference. But, very frankly, there’s no ‘when’. But if the government
helps a bit more, then the ‘when’ could become sooner. The ‘when’ could be
now,” he added.
4) WHERE is it best to go solar?
- Villas in Al Barsha, Arabian Ranches, The Palm; it doesn’t matter where you
are. Depending on how much power you want to produce, a small-sized villa
will need at least four solar panels, a medium-sized villa will need at least six,
while a large-sized villa will need at least eight.
- They can be integrated into the design of your place. You can have them on
your roof, as a terrace shading, canopies, saddle roofs, shopping cart roof,
container roof, garden shed roof.
- Outside the home for developers, it can also be a bus stop roof or bicycle
storage roofing.
- According to Dewa, the most optimum orientation for fixed solar cells in the
UAE all year round is in the south and the optimal inclination is about 24
degrees. This typically allows an annual irradiation of about 2100 kWh/square
metres for Dubai, when both direct and diffuse radiation is considered.
5) WHY go solar?
- According to UK’s Energy Savings Trust, the most basic 4kWp system can
generate around 3,800 kilowatt hours of electricity a year in the south of
England. This is roughly equivalent to a typical household’s electricity needs
in the UK that will save nearly two tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. That’s
equal to the carbon emissions of an average passenger vehicle that’s driven
4,762 miles (7,663km).
Singh said the main reason for going solar is to save the planet from
greenhouse gases that are the culprits of global warming.
“We must reduce our overall carbon footprint, as human beings, in terms of
ecological footprint, in terms of being better citizens, being more responsible.
Sometimes investing in the future, the returns are not so visible, but it is
investing in the future of our next generation, our children, the people who are
going to take over the planet when we’re gone,” Singh said.
“So beyond the fact that it’s a feel-good factor, it’s a human responsibility to
ensure that we are a part of nature, not against it,” he added.
6) HOW much is the cost?
Solar costs have dropped considerably over the last years, making it a good
incentive for those who want to shift to solar but with limited funds. “Five
years back, it was around somewhere between $1.8 (Dh6.61) and $5 a watt at
the panel level. Today, at the panel level, it is $0.50 to $0.80 per watt,” Singh
said.
For Dubai homes, there is no single answer to how much solar would cost as it
depends on many factors. But here’s a sample calculation:
According to Kevin Hsu, general manager of Almaden MENA, a three-
bedroom villa in Dubai Silicon Oasis can have a 5kW system consisting of 20
panels, depending on the space. This produces 25kWh of electricity per day,
which can cover roughly 20 per cent of energy needs. The whole system will
cost roughly Dh35,000 with a return on investment in eight years.
In terms of energy savings, Singh said if you have a 3,000 square foot house,
your monthly bill will roughly be between Dh1,500 and Dh2,100. A solar
system will enable you to save between Dh250 to Dh300 monthly. This has
been true for Singh for the past five years.
Other costs to consider are:
- Cleaning cost: Because of dust, solar panels need to be cleaned every 15 days
- Automated machines (10 per cent additional to the entire cost)
- Manual cleaning through specialised cleaning services (Additional 6 per cent
to the entire cost but this is a recurring expense)
- Steel structure for the roof bracing (additional 7 to 12 per cent of the cost)
- Additional Dh1,500 cost to install the meter that measures the electricity
generated by the PV system from Dewa as part of the one-off connection fees
HOW can I go solar?
Applications can be put in for free and may take between a week for small
systems producing 10kW or 20kW, and four to eight weeks for larger,
commercial, or industrial systems.
As of September 13, Dewa has enlisted 23 companies who have enrolled with it
as consultants and contractors for the Shams Dubai programme.
The process, according to Dewa, consists of four stages: (We can reproduce
Dewa’s INFOGRAPHIC)
1. The No Objection Certificate (NOC) stage
2. The Design Approval stage
3. The Inspection and Connection stage
4. The Generation stage
