ELECTIVE 3 – REVIEWER 2

Solar Energy.. Free.. Limitless.. Efficient.. Clean..

Why Solar Energy?

• It is renewable
• It only takes 8 minutes to travel 93 million miles
to Earth
• Every 88 minutes, enough sunlight reaches the
Earth’s surface
• Every 112 minutes, more sunlight reaches the
Earth’s surface
than is stored in all the proven oil, coal and
natural gas reserves in the world
• The Philippines enjoys a sizeable amount of
sunshine. The country can harness the sun’s
power generation potential of 4.5 to 5.5 kWh
per square meter per day.

➢ 63.3MW Solar Philippines Farm (Calatagan,

Batangas)
➢ 132.5MW Cadiz Solar Power Farm (Cadiz City,
Negros Occidental)
➢ 45MW SACASOL Solar Power Farm (San Carlos City,
Negros Occidental)

ADVANTAGES OF SOLAR POWER

1. Saves Money
2. Earn Additional Revenue or Income.
3. Efficient System
4. Non-Polluting
5. Can Power Remote Locations
6. Renewable or Limitless
7. Noiseless
8. Almost No Maintenance Cost
9. Reduces Dependence on Fossil Fuels

DISADVANTAGES OF SOLAR ENERGY

1. High Initial Cost
2. Reduced Reliability – useless during night time
and reduced output when cloudy
3. Low Efficiency of Energy Conversion – only up to
40% sunlight are converted to energy
4. Large Area Needed –for big energy users such as
manufacturing plants
What are the Safety Considerations in metering because net-metering displaces only
Installations? energy-related kWh charges.
But, kW customers whose peak demand of
1. Electrical fire and Electrocution hazards electricity coincides with the availability of the RE
2. Roof leaks and Flying roofs resource may benefit as the RE production can
3. Wind Load reduce the coincident peak demand for electricity
4. Grid stability and Network deterioration
5. Electrocution of Meralco linemen and field UPDATES on Meralco’s Net Metering Program
personnel ❖Meralco Business Centers started accepting Net
Net Metering Program Metering Applications on July 24, 2013
❖Profile of Applicants
In support of the Renewable Energy Act, we offer Net ▪ Residential customers in big villages
Metering to customers with RE installations. ▪ Commercial Customers
Net Metering is the system in which the user has a 2- ❖Meralco continues to build the capacity of its
way connection to the grid. This ensures the following: employees
▪ Materials/FAQs pamphlet for all employees
1. Safety of the facilities of the customer and ▪ Ongoing training for frontliners and technical
Meralco. staff/engineers
2. Right credits from your RE installation.
What is Net-Metering (N-M)?
Net-metering allows customers of Distribution
Utilities (DUs) to install an on-site Renewable
Energy (RE) facility not exceeding 100 kilowatts
(kW) in capacity so they can generate electricity
for their own use.
Who are Eligible and Ideal for N-M?
1. Who are eligible to apply and can Net-Metering
be installed with customers availing of the POP
(Peak/Off-Peak) Program?
➢ Customers with
• RE installations below 100kW
• are in good credit standing
• POP customers
2. Can Retail Electricity Supplier (RES) customers
avail of Net-Metering? What about Direct-
Connect?
➢ RES customers cannot because excess
electricity received by the DU from qualified
users can only be distributed to the DU’s other
customers, and credit given is equivalent to
DU’s blended generation costs.
➢ Direct-Connect customers also cannot because
they are transmission load customers of NGCP,
not Meralco.

3. Are all customers ideal candidates for Net-

Metering?
➢ No. Customers with demand-related (kW)
charges may not be ideal candidates for net-
NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES - Harmful gases and minerals may occasionally
A nonrenewable resource is a natural resource that come up from the ground below. These can
cannot be re-made or re-grown at a scale comparable be difficult to control.
to its consumption.

Wind
- NUCLEAR ENERGY Nuclear fission uses uranium
to create energy. • Wind turbines are used to generate electricity
- COAL, PETROLEUM, AND GAS are considered from the wind.
nonrenewable because they cannot be • The wind turns the large blades and the blades
replenished in a short period of time. These are turn a generator
called fossil fuels.
Advantages
RENEWABLE RESOURCES - Wind is renewable.
Renewable resources are natural resources that can - Wind is free.
be replenished in a short period of time. - No greenhouse gases are made.
- Solar - There are few safety risks.
- Geothermal Disadvantages
- Wind - Lots of wind turbines are needed to
- Biomass produce enough power.
- Wave - Turbines can only be put in windy areas.
- Tidal - It is not always windy.
- Hydroelectric - Some people don’t like the look of the
- OTEC turbines.

Biomass
Solar
• a renewable energy source made of biological
• Solar cells use energy from the Sun. material from living, or recently living
• Solar panels transfer the Suns energy directly into organisms.
electricity • Energy is released by combustion (burning).

Advantages Advantages
- The energy from the Sun is free. - Produces less pollution than fossil fuels.
- The sun does not produce greenhouse gases. - Does not cause acid rain.
- The sun will always be there during our - Can be found locally.
lifetime. Disadvantages
Disadvantages - Inefficient (only 30% efficiency).
- Solar cells are expensive. - Releases harmful solid carbon particles
- They take up lots of space. into the atmosphere.
- They only work in Sun light
Wave
Geothermal • Waves force air in and out of a chamber.
• Rocks under the ground are hot. • The air causes a turbine to generate
• Water can be pumped through these hot rocks electricity.
and warmed up.
Advantages
Advantages - Waves are free and will not run out.
- Geothermal energy does not produce - Wave power does not produce
greenhouse gases. greenhouse gases.
- The energy source is free and will not run out. - There are very few safety risks.
Disadvantages
- There are not many places where we can
build geothermal power stations.
 Disadvantages
- Small waves generate small amounts of
electricity.
- Electricity needs to be transported from the
sea onto the land.
- The equipment is expensive
Tidal
Advantages
- Tides are free and will not run out.
- No greenhouse gases are produced.
- It is reliable because we know exactly when the
tides happen.
Disadvantages
- A dam to make the water flow through the
generators might be needed.
- Plants and animals that live nearby might get
harmed
- The tides only happen twice a day, so can only
produce electricity at that time.
OTEC
• Exploits the temperature difference between
warm surface water and the cold water at
depth to run a “heat engine”
Advantages
- Can run virtually continuously
- No harmful by products
- Can also support numerous spin-off industries
Disadvantages
- Requires expensive, large-diameter pipes
submerged about a mile below the ocean's
surface
- jurisdictional conflicts could arise based on
international boundary disputes between
nations.

Hydroelectric
• Flowing water is used to turn a turbine which
generates electricity.

Advantages
- When the electricity is generated, no
greenhouse gases are made.
- The water used is free.
- Reservoir has multiple uses
Disadvantages
- The dam is expensive to build.
- By building a dam, the nearby area has to be
flooded and this could affect nearby habitats.
- If it does not rain much, we may not have
enough water to turn the turbines.