Nizam Energy – a subsidiary of H Nizam Din and Sons, which has run multiple businesses since 1869 – announced its decision to enter into a strategic partnership with Canadian Solar at a press briefing on Monday. Canadian Solar is one of the world’s largest solar module manufacturers, with revenues touching $1.9 billion in 2011.
Nizam Energy will act as a distributor of Canadian Solar’s products in Pakistan, besides providing training and undertaking capacity building of certified installers and engineers in the country.
“We want to create awareness about substandard and uncertified solar products currently available in Pakistan. They lead to a loss of confidence in solar energy products. We are going to offer quality products at competitive prices backed by Canadian Solar’s warranties,” said Nizam Energy Director Usman Ahmed.
Replying to a question, Ahmed cited the example of a farmer he met during his recent visit to Sukkur. “He spends Rs150,000 a month to run his diesel-powered tube-well. In contrast, our tube-well’s one-time cost is Rs1.2 million. It means he can recover his investment in just eight months if he decides to buy our product.”
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Ahmed said a solar-powered light emitting diode (LED) manufactured by Canadian Solar and distributed by Nizam Energy would cost Rs700, significantly higher than the price of a normal bulb. “However, it is a one-time expense. The LED is going to last 50,000 hours at least,” he said, suggesting that the Rs700 LED would not need a replacement for up to six years.
Ahmed said the per-watt cost of solar energy was roughly $4 four years ago. “But prices have crashed since then. This is the best time for Pakistanis to invest in solar energy as much as possible,” he claimed, given that solar power can now be produced at a cost of 84 cents per watt.
Speaking on the occasion, Canadian Solar’s Global Emerging Markets Director Bob Zhang said his company operates in 50 countries and was among the top five global solar module suppliers in 2011. Canadian Solar shipped 1.34 gigawatts (GW) of solar equipment in 2011. Its supplies for the current year are expected to be 1.8GW.
To date, Canadian Solar has established seven wholly-owned manufacturing subsidiaries in China, with a module capacity of 2.05GW in 2011. In the last 10 years, Canadian Solar has deployed over 3GW of solar modules in over 50 counties. In 2011, one of the world’s largest solar farms in Germany was deployed with 148 megawatts of Canadian Solar modules.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2012.
COMMENTS (14)
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Hello everyone,Please for God sake don't make ill comments,50,000 hours=5.7yrs, where is the contradiction? and thanks Raj for providing us useful informations.Here,in Italy and other european countries solar energy is boosting.Govt supported the system a lot and even now,when the govt support is gone people still buying solar panels to make energy,it's the most easiest way to get energy and it will also pay back early cause Pakistan has a lot more exposure to sun,I can't get why Pakistani Govt don't remove the duty from these panels.The removal of taxes will boost this department and a lot of investors will invest.Here in Italy the payback without govt support is 7 to 8 years maximum even though it's a much less gifted in terms of sun exposure than Pakistan.installing solar system will cause No energy bills from day one and no pollution,considerating that a solar panel system has a life of minimum 20 to 25 years.you will earning real money after your 8 years (in Pakistan tha payback will much early than 8 years).I hope the new govt with 2013 election will remove or at least give support to solar energy sector. best Wishes.
Unit cost of electricity = Rs 18 approx 20 cents Loadshedding in summers = 14 to 18 hours in rural area Diesel fuel = $1.2 Average Electricity bill = $800/month Average diesel cost = $700/month
You need to know the ground realities before falsifying any one. ROI surely comes down to 8 months in Pakistan.
@Professional Engineer: In addition to what I wrote earlier. a solar energy system would last for around 30 years (though there are some maintenance and repair costs). So, it it costs $2.50 per watt for the system, you will get around 6 watts of electricity per day for 30 years, excluding repairs and maintenance costs. Realistically, when you calculate the pay back period, you will be discouraged. Also, you pay the cost of electricity produced over the number of years up front. However, there are many advantages of solar energy also. In remote places where there are no grids, this is probably the best available energy source.
@Professional Engineer: this link may provide some info. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9282391.htm
Many solar module manufacturing companies have such information. For instance First Solar, Suntech, Sun Power, etc. Information provided by most companies would be more optimistic than realistic.
The payback period is different in different places as the effective sun light available varies from place to place. Pakistan has good availability of sun light and it could be around 6 - 7 hours per day on an average. California has around 6 hours of sun light on an average. Sun light is not efficient in the early morning hours or late evening hours and on cloudy days. So these hours are not considered. If you have less sun light, you need more solar panels which increases the cost of the system and also the pay back period. A solar system, without battery storage would cost around $2.50 per watt which includes $1.50 to $2.00 per watt for the solar modules and $0.50 to $1.00 per watt for the balance of systems which includes, installation, mounting racks, wiring, electronics, etc. This system can produce electricity during the day time only and if you need to use the electricity for night time, you need battery storage. Battery storage, charge controller, etc. would cost around $0.50 - $0.75 per watt. These batteries are deep cycle batteries and not the same as car batteries. So, without battery storage , it would cost $2.50 to $3.00 for solar module that would produce one watt of electricity for around 6 hours per day on an average. You can compare this the cost per kilo watt hour of electricity you pay on the electric bill to get the pay back period. Government subsidies reduce the cost of the solar system and brings down the pay back period.
Can a member share the numbers of PB in 8 months?
hahaaa - - - no experience - no comments, I hope ppl got my point here.
Indeed, alternative energy is much needed in Pakistan, we have to evolve and utilize immense source of energy available to us, and adopt the technology, to overcome our ever growing demand of domestic and commercial usage of electricity. This can be attained, with use of efficient and certified quality product. Undoughtily Nizam energy has take this encouraging incentive, by bring in Global leading companies, to promote Solar Energy solution to Pakistan.
Indeed, alternative energy is much needed in Pakistan, we have to evolve and utilize immense source of energy available to us, and adopt the technology, to overcome our ever growing demand of domestic and commercial usage of electricity. This can be attained, with use of efficient and certified quality product. Undoughtily Nizam energy has take this encouraging incentive, by bring in Global leading companies, to promote Solar Energy to Pakistan.
@Devil 50,000 hours=5.7yrs, where is the contradiction? Guys be positive, why we have to find negative in everything. If they are claiming to get the investment back in 8mnths then prove it wrong by numbers, not by believing something you found on Google.
The Pay back period used to be around 20 years for solar photovoltaic projects without any government subsidies. With the recent improvement in technology and steep fall in prices of solar modules, the pay back period is around 8 years today, without any government subsidies, Still solar energy is very much viable in many places and should be encouraged. China leads the world in the lowest cost of solar modules. In fact, it was the Chines who brought down the cost of solar modules several folds. Chinese brought down the cost of poly silicon, the key element in the manufacture of solar modules, from over $500/Kg. just 10 years ago to around $25/Kg. today. They manufacture good quality and also bad quality solar modules. If Pakistan is serious in solar energy, they should consider some sort of direct alliance/partnership with Chinese companies. No one can beat them in costs.
A good start at least, this is what we can simply comment. I believe, the Nizam Energy team could at least benefit of this partnership having trained themselves and so on so forth - - - I also believe once Mr. Usman, Director Nizam Energy, is trained, he will surely change his views what he calls "Pay-Back period" of EIGHT-MONTHS - huuuuuu.
“He spends Rs150,000 a month to run his diesel-powered tube-well. In contrast, our tube-well’s one-time cost is Rs1.2 million. It means he can recover his investment in just eight months if he decides to buy our product.”
Totally false figures. Never heard of 8 month pay-back period in solar energy.
This is sooo funny... everything in pakistan is "Strategic partnership".... as you read the article, the only thing that have happened is a petty distributor agreement.... there is nothing strategic about it, neither are they investing here, nor sharing technology, nor building projects... its a low level distributor... It seems we are begging for others to please consider us... "Strategic partnerships", "Taller than mountain friends" etc. etc..... where the other side dont even care...
“However, it is a one-time expense. The LED is going to last 50,000 hours at least,” he said, suggesting that the Rs700 LED would not need a replacement for up to six years.
People sure love to contradict themselves.