Search Results

A groundbreaking new law has recently been passed in France, which requires the rooftops of new buildings that will be built in commercial zones in France to have plants or solar panels in them. This is one major step in the overall goal of France to have most, if not all, of its roofs to be "green roofs". Such green roofs have several advantages that are beneficial to the building owners and to the environment, in general: Making use of unused space - rooftops are usually just vacant spaces that provide no active use to building owners, aside from protecting the building from the outside elements. With green roofs, rooftops can be turned into gardens or small farms and even into energy generation facilities with solar panels. Increased insulation - adding plants or solar panels to rooftops can act as another form of insulation to a building, which reduces the energy that is needed to heat it during winter and cool it during summer. This then reduces the overall demand on the national power grid during peak hot or cold weather, which can even reduce electricity prices. Create spaces and homes for birds and other wildlife - humans and animals coexisting seems impossible in a dense urban city setting but this green roof initiative will help to change that. This is one of the major reasons why this law that requires green roofs have been pushed mainly by environmental activists in the country. Turning roofs into energy generation facilities - with solar panels, you generate energy right on your very roof which can help meet some or all of your building's energy demand. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions - adding plants or solar panels to a building's rooftop works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and its total carbon footprint, which is great in fighting climate change. Environmental activists from France actually demanded a law that requires 100% roof coverage by plants or solar panels, but even if the passed law only requires partial coverage, it is still a huge step towards sustainability. This green roof initiative may incur some costs for the building owner, but the good thing is that they earn it all back, especially with solar panels, as having a green roof also offers some financial incentives. What makes this law standout is that it takes effect for the whole country of France. Similar laws and regulations have been passed in many cities all around the world, but France's law was the first one to have nationwide coverage.

Photovoltaics, the technology that makes solar panels possible, has been continuously evolving, especially in the past decade and has provided us with very promising new discoveries and advancements. One of these came just this month, where a team of researchers from Incheon National University in South Korea has developed a new design for a “transparent solar cell”. Transparent solar cells have been quite the “holy grail” of PV researchers as it has the potential of being integrated into windows, vehicles, cellphone screens and many other everyday items. Imagine having a house or an office building whose windows are capable of producing energy and powering your appliances. You give these unused and passive surfaces another purpose and functionality. That’s great, right? But if you think about it, a transparent solar cell seems like a paradox because solar cells absorb the energy from sunlight and convert it to electricity, while being transparent means that it allows light to pass through it without being absorbed. So, how do transparent solar cells work? Right now, the designs of solar cells, which are the most basic building blocks of solar panels, can be categorized into two. They can either be the “wet type” or those that are based on solutions or the “dry type” or those that uses metal-oxide semiconductors for their construction. The “wet type” solar cells are used in the more traditional types of solar panels, which are monocrystalline and polycrystalline solar panels while the “dry type” solar cells are the newer type of solar cell technologies, which include thin-film solar panels. The “dry type” solar cells have a distinct advantage of also being able to absorb UV light and convert it to electricity. The researchers at Incheon National University, however, improved upon this technology even further by allowing the solar cell to absorb only this part of sunlight. They were able to achieve this by inserting an ultra-thin layer of silicon (Si) between the two metal-oxide semiconductors of the solar cell. The researchers of this new technology view this major breakthrough as the beginning of a new class of solar panels, which can be used in a wide variety of new areas and applications. They envision this new technology to be used in building materials, most especially for glass buildings and mobile and other electric devices like smart phones and electric cars. They are even working on using other innovative materials like 2D semiconductors, nanocrystals of metal-oxides and sulfide semiconductors. However, before we get too excited regarding this news, we need to keep in mind several things: We would not probably see transparent solar panels in the market in the near future. A new invention or technology like this type of transparent solar cells goes through many more stages of development to be made available in the market. Also, it will need to overcome many more challenges like the need for funding and manufacturing techniques and methods. While transparent solar cells can be used for passive building components like windows, this would mean that most of the time, you would not have control over their tilt and orientation. You need to be content with a 90-degree tilt and whatever orientation that the windows are facing. This would mean that transparent solar cells would most probably not produce as much energy compared to traditional solar panels that are installed on the roof. But since these turn passive building components like windows to power-generating units, any amount of energy that they can produce is still a plus. We are still not sure whether the economics of this new technology will allow it to be widely used in the market. As an example, take a look at Tesla’s solar roof tiles. They are quite similar to transparent solar panels in the sense that they directly replace building components with power-generating ones. Even with the huge promise and potential of this new technology, it still turned out to be a flop due to a lot of factors. One, its target market was limited to new house constructions. Aside from this, the installation of these solar roof tiles required specialized tools and expertise. This means that they can’t be installed by traditional workers, unlike normal roof tiles, which results to a significantly higher cost of installation. Lastly, traditional solar panels have been in the market for decades already, which means they have had decades of development in both the technology and in manufacturing as an advantage. The result is that these traditional solar panels are still superior not only in terms of quality, but more importantly, with its cost. Newer technologies like these solar roof tiles, would really have a hard time competing in the market. Whether or not transparent solar panels will be the next big thing for solar energy in the near future, one thing is certain, the future of solar energy is very bright and it is still shaping up to be the energy of the future.

When it comes to residential solar installations, string inverters are the one that is more commonly used because it is the older type of inverter technology and have been in the market longer. Also, the public and most solar installers themselves are not yet too familiar with microinverters because this is a newer type of solar inverter technology. However, with the development of microinverter technology, it has already caught up with string inverters and has even overtaken them in terms of quality and value for installers and homeowners alike. Here are 8 reasons why microinverters are now better than string inverters for residential solar installations. More Efficient The main function of solar inverters is to convert the DC electricity that the solar panels are producing to usable AC electricity. However, they also perform another function which is very important in keeping the efficiency of the solar panels at its maximum, which is called MPPT or Maximum Power Point Tracking. For microinverters, there is a dedicated MPPT or Maximum Power Point Tracker for each individual solar panel on the whole array, which ensures that each solar panel’s energy production is optimized to its maximum. For string inverters, however, there is usually only one, two or three MPPTs for the whole array, which can only be used instead to optimize strings of solar panels rather than individual solar panels for microinverters. Minimizes Losses Due to Shading For string inverters, solar panels are arranged into strings and the solar panels on a single string then work as a single unit in producing energy. The problem with this setup is that when one solar panel is shaded, all the other solar panels on the string also suffer a reduction in their energy production. The result is that the energy production of your whole array is then disproportionately affected by shading in the sense that only a small amount of shading can already severely reduce its energy production. For microinverters, this is never a problem because each solar panel in the array will be working independently with each other. This means that when one solar panel is shaded, only that solar panel will suffer a loss in its energy output. And since each solar panel has a dedicated MPPT for itself, this loss will be reduced even more to a minimum. Module Level Monitoring Since each solar panel in a microinverter system has a dedicated input and MPPT, you will also be able to monitor the individual energy production and performance of each solar panel. With this, you will be able to identify which one/s are performing bad and thus, be able to troubleshoot accordingly. For example, if you notice that one specific solar panel has not been producing energy very well, it might be caused by a piece of trash or plastic that was blown on top of the solar panel. By being able to monitor each individual solar panel’s production, you will immediately be able to fix these problems. For string inverters, on the other hand, this is not possible as it is not capable of collecting the individual solar panel’s energy production data. You would only be able to monitor the total energy production of the whole array or the strings in the array, but you would have no idea about each individual solar panel’s performance. Safety When solar panels are connected together to form strings, the voltages that they produce add up, creating high DC voltages in your roof. For large systems, this can be as high as 1,000V while it can be up to 600V for typical residential homes. These levels of voltages, if not installed properly, can cause arcing, which can then lead to fires. For microinverter systems, however, solar panels are not anymore connected to form strings and thus, their voltages do not add up anymore. Because of this, the highest voltage in microinverter systems are only the 220V AC on its output side, which is no different and no more dangerous than your house’s electrical system. Flexibility Another disadvantage of string inverters is that all of the solar panels on the same string and MPPT input must be installed on roofs with similar tilts and orientation. This is not a problem for buildings with large roof segments, but it is a common problem for residential houses whose roofs are composed of many small segments. With microinverters, you have more flexibility in terms of which roof segments you want to install solar panels on. You would also be able to utilize your roof area to its maximum potential in terms of solar energy production. Modularity Microinverters have the advantage of being modular in nature, because of their small size. This makes it easier for anyone to achieve any system size by using as many microinverters as they need. Also, increasing your system size long after its installation is also made easier as you will just need to install more solar panels and microinverters as per your requirement. For string inverters, this won’t be as easy and increasing your system size will mean installing another new and separate system than your existing one. Saves Space Microinverters are smaller and have been designed to be installed on the roof, under the solar panels. With this, they can already withstand being exposed in the sun and rain for at least 25 years, which is the same amount of time as the lifetime of solar panels. String inverters, on the other hand, will need to be mounted on a wall, which is usually close to your main panel board. This means that you will need to dedicate a space on your wall for it, a space that you will not be able to use anymore for at least 25 years. Has a Longer Lifetime Microinverters have a rated lifetime of 25 years, which is already similar to the solar panel’s rated lifetime. String inverters, on the other hand, have a rated lifetime of only around 10-15 years. This means that for the total lifetime of your solar panels, you will have to replace your string inverter/s at least once. Another problem with this is that solar installers usually don’t tell this to their clients, so many of them are still not aware about this!

Philippine Meteo Database Choose Location arrow&v Location Month Global Irradiance (kWh/m2/day) Ambient Temperature (C) Wind Velocity (m/s) Abra January 3.35 24.30 24.30 Abra February 4.32 25.30 25.30 Abra March 5.04 27.20 27.20 Abra April 5.79 28.90 28.90 Abra May 5.54 29.50 29.50 Abra June 5.25 28.80 28.80 Abra July 4.95 28.70 28.70 Abra August 4.24 28.10 28.10 Abra September 4.57 27.30 27.30 Abra October 3.88 27.20 27.20 Abra November 3.73 25.90 25.90 Abra December 3.33 24.59 24.59 Abra AVERAGE 4.50 27.15 27.15 Agusan_Del_Norte January 3.37 26.34 26.34 Agusan_Del_Norte February 3.92 26.59 26.59 Agusan_Del_Norte March 4.71 27.27 27.27 Agusan_Del_Norte April 4.60 27.89 27.89 Agusan_Del_Norte May 4.66 28.58 28.58 Agusan_Del_Norte June 4.51 27.87 27.87 Agusan_Del_Norte July 4.65 28.26 28.26 Agusan_Del_Norte August 4.41 28.43 28.43 Agusan_Del_Norte September 4.59 27.97 27.97 Agusan_Del_Norte October 4.22 28.06 28.06 Agusan_Del_Norte November 3.84 27.12 27.12 Agusan_Del_Norte December 3.72 26.88 26.88 Agusan_Del_Norte AVERAGE 4.27 27.61 27.61 Agusan_Del_Sur January 3.77 26.51 26.51 Agusan_Del_Sur February 4.11 26.54 26.54 Agusan_Del_Sur March 5.06 27.14 27.14 Agusan_Del_Sur April 5.05 27.68 27.68 Agusan_Del_Sur May 5.16 28.16 28.16 Agusan_Del_Sur June 4.86 27.56 27.56 Agusan_Del_Sur July 5.21 28.01 28.01 Agusan_Del_Sur August 5.00 28.19 28.19 Agusan_Del_Sur September 5.20 27.68 27.68 Agusan_Del_Sur October 4.86 27.98 27.98 Agusan_Del_Sur November 4.06 27.16 27.16 Agusan_Del_Sur December 3.97 27.02 27.02 Agusan_Del_Sur AVERAGE 4.69 27.47 27.47 Aklan January 4.00 25.41 25.41 Aklan February 5.06 26.15 26.15 Aklan March 6.19 27.80 27.80 Aklan April 6.58 29.02 29.02 Aklan May 5.66 29.50 29.50 Aklan June 5.35 28.49 28.49 Aklan July 4.87 28.20 28.20 Aklan August 4.99 27.77 27.77 Aklan September 5.14 26.88 26.88 Aklan October 4.83 27.15 27.15 Aklan November 4.92 26.61 26.61 Source: Meteonorm(Global Climate Database)

Home Solar Basics Our Energy Industry Why Solar Energy? About Andal Solar Why Andal Solar? Our Service Package Blog Meteo Data Calculators Inquiry Referral Program Privacy Policy More The Philippine Energy Sector PHILIPPINE ELECTRICITY PRICES ARE THE HIGHEST IN ASIA! This administration's TRAIN law has imposed an additional excise tax on coal, our country's main energy source and removes the value-added tax (VAT) exemption of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), which means that instead of electricity prices going down, it will inevitably go up even further. “Coal is a major fuel source for power generation in the country. Increasing the existing excise tax on coal will only result in higher electricity prices, which will reduce the country’s competitiveness vis-à-vis Asean neighbors,” said Meralco First Vice President and head of Regulatory Management Office, Ivanna de la Peña. How Did We Get in This Situation The real story on how we got in this situation is one of the many examples of how our country's elites have taken advantage of the Filipino people for their personal gain. ​ Everything started with the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. It was even dubbed as the "original sin", which is the reason why our power industry is in the situation that it is today. The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant Philippine government officials have been interested in nuclear energy when the U.S. has given it a nuclear fission reactor. The government then went ahead and established the country's first nuclear program in 1958, which was handled by a new commission, the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). The commission then designed and proposed the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) in the 1960s, which was approved by the Marcos regime (1965 - 1986) in July of 1973. The project was won by Westinghouse Electric and was eventually completed in 1984. ​ The construction of the power plant was filled with controversy from start to finish. Firstly, President Marcos was connected to Westinghouse Electric, which may had a big hand in the company bagging the project. This then caused a large dispute between General Electric and Westinghouse. Lastly, Westinghouse had issues when it comes to following the proper construction protocols during and after construction. These issues that surrounded the BNPP has even led to several criminal lawsuits being filed against Westinghouse. Only two years after the plant's completion, where these issues were known to the public. ​ President Marcos used his power to urge the National Power Co. (the government-owned electric utility) to buy two nuclear reactors from Westinghouse. Westinghouse then used their connections with Marcos to bag the deal. Even though Westinghouse's proposal was already more expensive than all others, their contract still jumped from $650 million for just one reactor to a whopping $2.2 billion. During investigations, pieces of evidence were found that show large amounts of money going to President Marcos. Westinghouse and Marcos dismissed these claims. ​ Another major controversy is why Westinghouse Electric's proposal was chosen over General Electric's even though it has already been known that the National Power Co. was already in talks with General Electric regarding the project before Westinghouse came into the picture. Because of the president's connection with Westinghouse through his friend, Hermino Disini, Westinghouse Electric has easily been able to join the negotiation process as if it were at the same footing with General Electric. In fact, General Electric was even already in the negotiation stage with the government before Westinghouse was able to present its proposal. ​ Also, as mentioned, there were also issues regarding proper construction protocols during and after the construction of the project. Ebasco Services' compliance with safety testing protocols was greatly questioned by Librado Ibe, which is Marcos' top nuclear expert. Instances were bribery were documented by Ibe, as top officials have tried to bribe him to approve the site and give the green light for the construction. After the construction and during the Aquino administration, a consultant from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) named William Albert was hired by the new top officials to inspect the project. Many issues regarding welding, working hours, base plates, pipe hangers, water values, and transmission cables were found, which was all attributed to quality control. These issues were then raised to National Power Co., which was tasked to decide if the plant was operable or not. Cory Aquino Refuses to Use the Power Plant In April 1986, the Chernobyl disaster happened. This was then used as a horror story by anti-nuclear activists in the Philippines at that time to prevent the operation of the BNPP. Since most of these activists were allies of the anti-dictatorship movement, president Aquino followed and ordered to stop the plant's operation. However, there were no plans to replace its 620-megawatt capacity and aid our electricity supply ​ President Aquino followed the advice of her cabinet officials that are pushing for the interests of big businesses and did not seek condonation of the loans from the US that were used to finance the BNPP. Also, US officials have advised her that if she repudiates these loans, the Philippines will be an outcast in the global financial community and that the US would not help in stopping attempts to topple her administration. ​ “Hindi tayo balasusbas sa mga utang natin” Cory said. But it was only 21 years later when our country has fully paid these loans In the end, a total of 120 billion pesos were spent for a power plant that was not even used, even just once. These loans were shouldered through these years by the National Power Corp., which essentially made it bankrupt. Because of this, it was not able to borrow and finance new power plants to meet the growing demand. As the demand for electricity grew to more than the available supply in Cory's administration, the people experienced long hours of power interruptions, which discouraged foreign investments from coming in. Private Companies Enter Our Country's Energy Sector At that time, the NPC had the sole responsibility of building and operating power plants. But since the NPC was still bankrupt from paying the loans for the BNPP and was unable to finance and build new power plants, the next administration had to come up with a solution. President Fidel Ramos then had an idea, and this was to have private companies go into power generation and help increase our supply. ​ It sounds like a good idea, but since the government is desperate to gather investors, our country's corporate elite was able to blackmail Ramos into agreements that would very much favor the investors. This led to the creation of what are called "take-or-pay" arrangements with these big private companies. In these arrangements, the NPC was contractually obligated to pay these new private generators, even if it does not need electricity and does not need to buy from them. ​ These arrangements went smoothly for a while. That is, until the 1997 financial crisis. Our country's economy slowed down, along with the demand for electricity. With the take-or-pay arrangement, however, the NPC was still obligated to pay the private generators for electricity even if it has no use for it. This then gave rise to what is called "stranded costs" for the NPC. By 2010, these stranded costs ballooned to 80 billion pesos. Just after paying off the BNPP debt, the NPC was then again bankrupt. ​ Our neighboring countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and China all have very successful power industries that are controlled by the government. This is also why they have electricity prices that are much lower than ours. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, we have a power industry that serves as a cash cow for many large private businesses. These businesses were supposed to introduce competition and bring down costs. But instead, they connived to raise the prices even more. Indeed, our power industry has been such a profitable business venture that one of the largest business tycoons in South Asia, Anthony Salim, has bought into Meralco, which is our largest electric distribution company. ​ Today, Filipinos have the highest electricity bills in Asia and the fifth most expensive in the world. ​ Source: The Manila Times Article: "High electricity costs root of our backwardness" by Roberto Tiglao, January 9, 2014 WHAT CAN WE DO? The "katipuneros" from the Spanish times famously asked themselves the questions: “Kung hinde tayo kikilos, sinong kikilos? Kung hinde ngayon, kalian pa?”. Now is the perfect time for us to ask ourselves those questions again. Instead of being against the oppressive Spaniards like before, we are now against the corporate elite that are also effectively oppressing us by controlling the power industry, making us suffer from high electricity prices. ​ Before, our enemies have the advantage of being equipped with better weapons. Now, it is the other way around. They have the dirty, 20th century energy source in coal while we have the technology and energy of the future in solar. ​ BE PART OF THE SOLAR ENERGY REVOLUTION TODAY! Why Solar? Contact Us Contact Us 0936-442-6935 Send Us An Email 0936-442-6935 Like Us on Facebook Share

Home Solar Basics Our Energy Industry Why Solar Energy? About Andal Solar Why Andal Solar? Our Service Package Blog Meteo Data Calculators Inquiry Referral Program Privacy Policy More Our Service Package OUR CUSTOMERS ARE OUR PARTNERS Here in Andal Solar, we treat our customers as partners since we share the same goal of helping the nation prosper through our solar energy revolution. This company is built more on passion than profit and our customers are our partners in helping our country achieve its fullest potential. ​ Because of this, we are offering our customers a very special service package that will surely make them feel that they are indeed our partners. Our service package includes: Designing and Installation of the solar panels and the whole solar energy system. This includes mounting of the solar panels and microinverters on the roof, installation of all the necessary wiring up to the main distribution panel. ​ Setting up of the EMA (Energy Monitoring and Analysis) System and EMA app on the customer’s mobile phones. Orientation about the EMA and all system parameters shown on it, this includes how to measure system performance using the app and in determining problems in the system and what actions to take if the customer will troubleshoot and repair by themselves after the service warranty. ​ Service warranty of 2 years. This includes continuous system performance monitoring through the EMA, semi-annual system check-up and maintenance, and troubleshooting and repair in case of problems reported by the customer. ​ Preparing all necessary documents and processing for the net metering application. ​ Conducting a seminar on the installed solar energy system for the customer to know everything about their system. This includes the turnover of all system plans/drawings for their reference. ​ Equipment warranty of 10 years for the solar panels, 10 years for the microinverters and 2 years for other system components (wires, conduits, dc, and ac switches, etc.). ​ Teaching the customer how to operate, maintain, troubleshoot and repair the system. ​ Monthly and annual system performance report email during the duration of the service warranty. ​ Free 1 dozen Ferrero bouquet as a sign of our deepest thanks and gratitude. ​ Earn 3% commission through referral of other customers. LET'S TALK! Contact Us Contact Us 0936-442-6935 Send Us An Email 0936-442-6935 Like Us on Facebook Share