Jun 2, 2011
First Philec's systems installation unit, First Philec Solar Solutions (FPSS), launched their solar kits for Philippine residents and commercial establishments.
Living in a tropical country, the solar kits would be ablt to harness the power of the sun and generate electricity and savings for users.
The kits come in three varieties: a 1-kW grid-type kit; a 1-kW off-grid kit; and a 10-kW grid-type system, targeted at commercial users. Each kit comes with five solar panels able to produce 225 watts of power and a converter kit. For the off-grid model, the kit also includes a solar battery for the use of stored power during night time.
Raul Sinocruz, the FPSS's chief technology officer (CTO), demonstrated that the panels, installed side-by-side on a rooftop or a tract of land, would harness solar energy from the sun and produce DC electricity, which is converted into AC electricity that is usable by everyday appliances.
"A typical 1-HP aircon requires 780 watts of power. The solar kit can power that," he said. With a 1kW solar kit, he further explains that four to five kilowatts of power can be displaced during the day, which is about 15% of the electric consumption of a typical household per day.
Dan Lachica, FPSS president, further elaborates, "The immediate benefit of these solar kits is clean energy. Furthermore, solar power operates within the day, during peak hours when power most expensive."
They said that the solar panels use wafers from SunPower, a manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, but the kit can be customized to fir the requirements of the customers.
"The advantage of SunPower is that they produce high-efficiency cells. It maximizes the space of a roof or piece of land by producing more power in a smaller space, but the price is higher," Lachica said.
FPSS said that they are in the process of coming up with a locally-produced inverter to help the customer realize more savings. Also, the company is looking in to a monitoring system, which will give customers an idea of their electricity consumption and energy savings from their solar kits.
For a 1-kW grid-type kit, the price tag is around Php 300,000-350,000. This includes installation of the solar kit and any maintenance that it would need.
The other kits are priced higher due to the increase of kWs and also the addition of the solar battery.