Domestic solar capacity is expected to grow at an outstanding rate of over 1 gigawatt this year.Continue reading
Over a hundred megawatts of solar energy, one fifth of the output of a Paks reactor, is lost every day in Hungary due to the regulation of corporate solar systems. According to Green Geo, a company that designs and installs solar systems, this amount could be saved, but most Hungarian companies are not taking advantage of the opportunities to store solar energy and use it in a more rational way.
In early August, the capacity of captive power plants in Hungary already exceeded 0.5 gigawatts, based on data from the MAVIR Hungarian Independent Transmission Operator Company, according to Green Geo. This capacity represents the aggregate output of such systems, typically built for business use, and is equivalent to the nominal output of a reactor unit at the Paks nuclear power plant in southern Hungary, Világgazdaság points out.
However, since the regulation for captive power plants larger than 50 kilowatts, typically installed on the roofs of buildings and halls, stipulates that the energy produced can only be used locally, these plants are curtailed in case of over-generation, meaning that they actually produce less than they could.
According to industry standards, around 15%, and sometimes up to 30-40%, of the energy is lost in such a system.
Green Geo calculates that there are more than 100 megawatt-hours of unused energy at national level that could cover the annual energy consumption of a small town.
A significant part of the surplus could be used locally through energy management solutions, but most businesses are missing this opportunity and are not considering installing a solar power plant. “The future is clearly about how efficiently we can use locally generated energy. With digitalization – smart metering, analytical software – we now have a detailed understanding of consumption patterns. For companies that optimize production through smart metering, for example by adjusting shifts to solar production, they can use significantly up to 20-40% more of the energy produced than without metering and optimization,” stressed Csaba Iványi, Commercial Director of Green Geo.
It is not only smart metering that can improve the use of the energy generated by solar panels, but also storage solutions.
So far, few people are taking advantage of this opportunity, even though the most cost-effective way to use surplus energy is to store electricity as thermal energy (hot water). The system is supported by a smart meter that continuously monitors energy use: if production is higher than current consumption, the energy is automatically used as hot water.
Photo: Facebook/Green Geo Kft.
Another way to significantly reduce energy losses by 20-30% is to charge the excess energy into electric cars during peak production periods. With the right automation, the charging of an entire fleet of company cars can be intelligently managed based on
An average sized corporate solar system can charge 4-5 cars.
Battery energy storage is also in its infancy among domestic companies, even though batteries can significantly increase self-consumption rates by up to 25-40%. The technology is mature and the return on investment is much faster than in the past, with battery cell prices falling by 60% in the last year alone. Today, in many cases, a system with energy storage will deliver better financial results than a business without solar panels.
Via Világgazdaság; Featured image via Pixabay