Edevu adds solar power

By PETER ESILA
ON top of the 54 Megawatts (MWs) of power that the Edevu hydro plant in Central generates, PNG Hydro Development Company, the firm which runs the plant, has incorporated a solar power generation component to its operations.
The solar panels decked out on the surface of the dam water have a capacity to generate 1MW (1,000 kilowatts) of power.
PNG Hydro Development managing director Allan Guo told The National that the solar component could generate up to 5 MWs and was cost effective considering the formation of the lake once the dam had been constructed.
“Many people talk about solar, but up till now they are still studying, but I decided to put one on the water, it’s a floating solar, we can expand to five megawatts or even more, depending on the need,” he said. “Edevu now we still have some rejection water, meaning that we have power which is not being used.
“PNG Power is making good money out of Edevu, because we have a single price so they know how much margins they are making.”
He said adding solar panels was to showcase that PNG had the potential for clean energy.
“We are doing solar mainly to showcase (a clean energy option).
“We have been talking about solar potential but not much has been done.
“We are now fitting solar into our system.
“We have one megawatt, we tested it and it is very successful, if need be, right now we have lots of water rejected and wasted.
“But during the dry season and we are expecting it, by the time the water drops down, at least we have more solar.
“We have already practiced it already, so in case of any shortage, we can quickly respond by solar solution, and we have the experience, we are ready,” he said.
“People talk about solar, but we have solar on the water, it is not just a concept or on the drawing board, but it is already tested and in the system already.
“PNG we have a lot of solar potential.”
Guo said the company was also talking with district development authorities (DDAs) around the country to take on solar energy proposals for their community.
“It is affordable and as an investment, you can still get back your return, in a way it is much better than hydro, it is much faster, you can do it in a few months, it took us three months to do it. He said using diesel for generators was costly.
“In PNG, diesel is very hard, you are in a remote area and your fuel is not guaranteed, people do not regularly service generators, and eventually in every place you go in the rural areas, you will find that they do not have enough fuel, so that is why we say do away with diesel fuel and just do solar alone, we proposed some concept.
“But for Edevu case, one megawatt of solar energy is huge, we can just duplicate it.
“For one megawatt you have to have a network like Edevu has one already, but for individual or one’s own use, you have to have storage, if it is isolated, you do not have a grid to dispatch.
“Because when the sun goes down, by 6.30pm, there is no more power, so we have to store power for the night.”