N H Zuberi

KARACHI: More and more shops of solar energy appliances are being opened in the city due to increasing demand to solar energy triggered by announced and undeclared load-shedding and frequent power supply failure.

The sale of solar energy appliances, generators and UPS batteries increased in city as people are going for alternate modes of electricity to offset massive power load-shedding.

Amid constant power cuts, consumers are already installing small-scale rooftop solar systems for their homes and businesses. “People are mostly buying solar energy appliances of 150 to 300 watts solar system,” said a dealer, adding that in some new developing areas, people prefer to install complete solar system to run AC, water pumping motors and entire house.

Apart from the electricity’s frequent outage, multiple reasons have contributed to the increase in demand for solar-powered systems in the city.

Key among them: growing awareness about the benefits of alternative energy solutions and increased availability of these products at affordable prices, the irregular supply of electricity and ever increasing power tariff by utility company.

Cost of 700 watts solar energy appliances including inverter, battery and 4 panels of 150 watts each is around Rs 52000 to Rs 60000 which can run comfortably 4 fans and 8 LED lights of 25 watts for 4 to 6 hours at night and in day it can be used directly switching of connection from utility provider to save power bill.

Most of the demand is currently met through imported solar systems from China, Germany and the US; local production capacity is limited to approximately 10 MW per year, leaving a demand gap of 1400 MW. The market is flooded with non-branded, imported solar panels and components.

However, retailers dealing in solar-powered appliances are of the opinion that brand recognition alone is no match for the lure of lower prices of non-branded products.

However, they also said that a very large number of people still have doubts about the effectiveness of solar power systems and don’t want to invest a lot of money there. Even minor differences in price per watt make a huge difference because one solar inverter system is powered by thousands of watts.

How much you save on your bill will be dependent on the size of the solar system and your electricity usage.

Depending on the size of the solar system anyone who installs it can save an average of 50% of electricity bill or even eliminate it all together, said a dealer.

The investment has a payback period of only 3.5 years, while the solar panels have a warranty of 10 years and useful life of 25 years—which means you generate free electricity and extra credits for 20+ years. It is hard to beat. It is both socially responsible and economically profitable. Solar energy systems generally don’t require a lot of maintenance. It only needs to keep them relatively clean, so cleaning them a couple of times per year will solve this. Most reliable solar panel manufacturers give 20-25 years warranty. Also, as there are no moving parts, there is no wear and tear. The inverter is usually the only part that needs to be changed after 5-10 years because it is continuously working to convert solar energy into electricity (solar PV) and heat (solar thermal).