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A solar diesel energy hybrid – an economic boon for developing countries

Renewables: A rising power. Ft.com By Pilita Clark, Environment Correspondent, 8 Aug 13 Developing nations: Cheap solar could ‘leapfrog’ subsidies The plummeting cost of solar power systems is driving more than a surge in suburban rooftop panels in Bavaria and Barcelona.

It also promises to provide regular electricity to the 1.2bn people who have no access to it today. Low-cost solar panels could help them leapfrog traditional power grids in the same way parts of the developing world sidestepped fixed-line telecommunications networks and went straight to mobile phones.

An 80 per cent fall in the cost of solar panels since 2008 has opened up new business opportunities for companies such as Germany’s Donauer, which has just developed the D: Hybrid, a system that allows thousands of solar panels to be attached to the diesel generators that are a fixture in industrialising countries with rickety electricity systems.

Diesel fuel is still expensive in these countries and there is the added cost of transporting it and maintaining generators.

Donauer claims that by integrating solar power with a diesel generator, it can extend the life of the generators and sharply cut the use of fuel.

As there is no need to use expensive batteries for storage, the cost of the system is lower and operators can recoup initial outlays in as little as five years in some countries.

Since it launched the D: Hybrid this year, Donauer has put one on a hospital in Haiti that was spending about €150,000 a year on diesel and has just won a contract for a much larger one on a Namibian brewery.

It says the Haitian system is already saving the hospital up to €4,000 a month and the brewery should recoup its initial costs within six years.

It is set to install similar systems in South Sudan and other Caribbean countries.

August 10, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, decentralised