Sustainability and Thailand's Solar Home System: Is it still achievable? Observations from Tak province by Renewable Energy Conference, BITEC Fredrik Bjarnegård 6 July 2006

“The Service & Support Department is like the guy in the parade who walks behind the elephant with a broom and a big bucket”

Thai Solar Home System (SHS) in context  290,716 households without grid connection before SHS  188,995 SHS in all Thailand  15,000 SHS in Tak Province  Thai installed PV in 2003: 6 MWp  SHS program adds 23 MWp!  Responsibility of SHS will be transferred from the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) to Tambon (county) governments Source: PEA, May 2006 Tak

Thai SHS in Tak province Rated 120 peak Watt single crystalline PV module Rated 150 W, 50 Hz, 230 V Inverter / 10 A Charge controller 12 V, 125 Ah deep cycle lead-acid battery Two 10 W tube fluorescent lights with electronic ballasts AC outlet for TV or other appliances

SHS Warranty  Warranty periods –Complete system: 2 years –Solar panel: 5 years –Charge controller/Inverter:3 years –Battery: 2 years –Light/Ballast: 2 years  The system warranty is expiring within a few months  Very few villagers informed that there is a warranty  Huge need to inform villagers about warranty

SHS Warranty  Postcards with warranty and maintenance information could be distributed by Tambons  Idea presented at meeting with DLA (Department of Local Administration)

How to claim the SHS warranty  Villagers need to inform Tambon (local administration) government of broken systems  Tambon needs to send claims to PEA provincial office  PEA forwards warranty claims to installation company TambonPEA Installation company SHS user Repair/replace equipment in response to warranty claim  Installation companies must repair within 1 week. –Otherwise they will be fined 200 baht per system per day

Costs for replacing SHS  Equipment replacement cost: 130 to 300 baht/month  Villagers cannot afford new equipment when it fails Accumulated costs for replacing Thai SHS

 Technician trainings in two districts –3-day theory & hands-on training –cooperation with Tambons  The technicians –are provided with a tool box –get a SHS manual  –survey all SHS in their village cluster –make minor repairs and system improvements –educate homeowners in system use & maintenance –send surveys to BGET via the Tambon office –could help with repairs after the warranty expires BGET SHS trainings in Tak province

Districts in Tak province 1.Mueang Tak 2.Ban Tak 3.Sam Ngao 4.Mae Ramat 5.Tha Song Yang 6.Mae Sot 7.Phop Phra 8.Umphang 9.Wang Chao Priority 1: 8,692 SHS Priority 2: 3,834 SHS BGET SHS trainings in Tak province

Trainings already performed in ten Tambons TambonDistrictDate of training# of SHS# of technicians Mae TanTha Song YangOctober Mae SongTha Song YangOctober 20051,72829 Mae Wa LuangTha Song YangNovember Mae LaTha Song YangDecember Mae Cha Rao, Phra Tart Mae RamatDecember Tha Song Yang February Sam MeunMae RamatMarch Mae U SuTha Song YangMay 20061,06519 Mae TuenMae RamatJune 20061,44328 TOTAL8, BGET SHS trainings in Tak province

User error: bypassed controller  battery overcharge 1.Villager bypasses broken controller and charges battery directly from PV 2.Battery over-charged. Electrolyte level drops and plates are exposed to air. Battery fails. 1 2 Problems found during training surveys

User error: Controller bypass leads to burned diode 1 2 Problems found during training surveys 1.Villager bypasses broken controller and charges battery directly from PV 2.One mistake of reverse battery polarity blows up bypass diode in PV junction box, melting junction box.

User error: Villager used inefficient 60 W light bulb Problems found during training surveys

New inverter replacement: Solartron and PEA provided 15 inverters for the first 2 trainings Problems solved during training surveys

Manufacturing defect: Missing connector (Junction Box) CorrectMissing Consequence: module never worked Problems found during training surveys

Correct polarity Incorrect polarity Manufacturing defect: Diode with wrong polarity Problems found during training surveys Consequence: module never worked

Consequence: System broken since the first day of installation Installation error: Burned Diodes from Panel Reversed Polarity Problems found during training surveys

Installation error: Battery failure caused by solar panel installation in shady location 14:00 Saw Kre Ka village, Tha Song Yang District Problems found during training surveys

Installation error: Bad panel locations Problems found during training surveys

SHS status survey  Survey based on sample of 405 systems from Tak  All systems in Tak province installed by Solartron.  Failure rates from other provinces or companies. –Anecdotal experiences from Chiang Mai and Krabi provinces show considerable failures as well. Failure modeQuantity% Solar module30.7% Battery245.9% Inverter/charge controller4110.1% Light ballast399.6% Total %

Sustainability of Thai SHS still achievable?

Contact BGET Salinee Tavaranan, BGET Project Director Tel: Mobile: