Dear Editor,
I could not agree more with the sentiment expressed by Canadian High Commissioner Nicole Giles (‘Time ripe for renewable energies here,’ SN, December 6). However, either the High Commissioner or your reporter produced some inconsistent figures for the 5 MW solar energy farm by the Canadian gold company IAMGold in Suriname. Simple arithmetic shows that at $5,000 per day energy cost recovery, $7M will be recovered in almost 4 years, not “in one year” as the article says. The more pertinent payback period would be five-and-a-half years for the $10M building cost. This is still a very good payback period.
Solar energy is becoming more affordable, but it is important to get the figures right. I have recently had a telephone caller ask me to estimate what it costs to set up solar panels on his house to give 5 kW of electricity 24 hours a day. “24 hours a day!” I exclaimed. “Yes,” he insisted. “That would be 120 units of electricity per day!” I replied. My average household energy consumption is 7 units of electricity per day.
To invest properly and make his batteries last longer, I told him it would cost him about $50M at present prices. He said a local company claims they could do it for $12M. I admitted that they have me there, but I strongly suspect that they were referring to the power rating of the panels to be installed and not to the energy that can be obtained. Misconceptions from miscalculations like these give rise to failed expectations and give solar energy a bad rap.
Yours faithfully,
Alfred Bhulai
