public services

Solar energy plugs in

A new regulation allows people with solar panels to connect to low-voltage power grids.

Maydée Romero/LA PRENSA

sunny profits: Javier Márquez, of the company ETS Panamá, displays the kind of 125-watt solar panels that customers of certain energy companies can now install to reduce their electricity costs.1089282

Solar energy has arrived in a big way in Panama. The Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (Asep) will allow people with solar panel systems to connect to certain low voltage power grids.

Under the new regulations, customers of Elektra Noreste, Edemet and Edechi can install solar panel equipment to offset some or all of their energy costs. Restrictions prohibit the systems from generating more than 10 kilowatts.

“The amount of energy the customer supplies to the grid can’t exceed the amount consumed,” explained ASEP director Víctor Urrutia.

To connect to the grid, the customer must sign an interconnection agreement with the energy company. The company will then submit the application to ASEP no later than October 25, 2008.

Before activating the system, the customers must have the panels approved by Seguridad del Cuerpo de Bomberos and Ingeniería Municipal, to demonstrate that they comply with the electrical installation regulations.

During public consultations, energy companies Edemet and Edechi proposed using a bi-directional meter, which would be paid for by the customer. ASEP, however, determined that the cost of the meter should be absorbed by the company. The two-way meter will record the both the panel system’s energy input and output, so as to calculate what the customer owes.

Solar panels that generate 100 watts cost around $800 and can provide the grid about 30 kilowatt-hours each month, or roughly 6 percent of the energy by a residence currently consuming 500 kilowatts per month.

In addition to the panels, the system will require a converter to transfers the energy produced by the solar panels to the low-voltage grid.

“This investment will be recovered in the long-term, usually between 7 and 15 years, depending on the number of panels installed,” said Esteban Ortiz, director of new technologies at Electro-Technical Services, an electrical engineering company that was established in Panama in 1986.

According to ASEP reports, connecting residential solar panels to the grid will benefit energy companies by reducing the electricity used during periods of peak demand, when energy is most expensive for the company.

“The effect the system has on the electrical grid is similar to the effect of energy-saving measures,” said the report. “That is, it reduces the amount that the customer takes from the grid.”