dependable electricity

Submitted by Jack Davies on 4 September, 2006 - 22:53.

The solar initiative bill has been signed into law in California: http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/action/energy/thank-gov?id4=ES

Too bad we can't get one in Nicaragua. Not that that would not solve all of our problems. With clouds and all, solar never will be the answer unless we do it from space:

http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v7i28_kumar.html

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Alternative Energy

Submitted by fyl on 5 September, 2006 - 08:47.

I started a "book page" here at http://www.nicaliving.com/node/945 over a year ago to see if we could do something useful about alternative energy. It never went anywhere. I think it is time we took it seriously.

I am actually not sure if regular users can create sub-pages or not but, if you can't and have a subject you want to address, let me know and I will create a page that you own.

There is little need to associate alternative energy for Nicaragua with tree-hugging in the US. The average consumption of electricity is just so different that alternatives such as solar become practical here.

Here are some serious subjects worth dicsussing:

  • Geothermal -- Needs initial start-up capital but Nicaragua has huge potential
  • Wind -- Many areas including near Lake Nicaragua and near Estelí offer very decent potential. Besides capital-intensive systems connected to the grid, there are designs for relatively small (200-1000W) plants that will cost little other then labor to build. This has huge potential for bringing electricity to people far from the grid.
  • Solar -- High initial investment for return but for remote locations it is very cost-effective.
  • Micro-hydro -- I expect there are untapped resources here. Plus water storage for energy storage from wind systems makes sense.

What doesn't make sense is:

  • More oil/gas fired plants. High energy costs.
  • Nuclear for an amazing set of reasons but, in particular, high energy costs. (Yes, I used to work in the nuke industry and the statement "to cheap to meter" was a big lie.

I am going to head off to the page I linked to and add some stuff on wind that I recently found. If there are some interested people I think we could actually do some useful stuff with small-scale wind. That is, with little money and little training, I think it could become a profitable business venture for some Nicaraguans as well as solving a current need.

Alternate energy

Submitted by Huehuete Bob on 5 September, 2006 - 15:21.

I am with you on this one. Tried to pm you Phil, You are not accepting pm, huh?

Yes - "rcefalu"

Submitted by Miskito Alan on 5 September, 2006 - 15:37.

Go to this link.

http://www.nicaliving.com/user/2

Look directly under "fyl" & Ana's picture.

Click on "send private message".

Write "pm" and send as per usual.

Miskito Alan &#174

Topic needed

Submitted by evets on 5 September, 2006 - 10:15.

FYL - there's stuff on your page that I've been unable to find before. I think it would be so much easier to organise if we could have an alternative energy topic. As you say things like DIY wind gens are ideal for Nica making, and look at this www.homepower.com/files/solarice.pdf

There are bits of low-tech hi-technology everywhere, they just need finding and collating.

Mobile phone transmitter batteries, for example, are superb for running inverters (that's what they do!) and are changed routinely every couple of years - the phone company will give them away.

Power = Power

Submitted by Bobby on 5 September, 2006 - 08:15.

I say we give Nicalandia Nuclear Power and be done with the entire mess. World "leaders" would be fighting to see who could give Nicas their "seed" money. They would have plenty of electric to export and "waste product" could be sold to the highest bidder. The "plant" would be publicly owned by EVERY Nica (or anyone who pays an electric bill here) and their profit/dividend would be reflected in the monthly electric bill as a credit. Now that is true PUBLIC service. There's enough "waste product" available anywhere in the world NOW to ANYONE who wants it. We all have enough bombs to blow the earth up 10 times over (probably more). Take away the world's thirst for oil, let everyone have a Nuclear Plant and the only people on "welfare" would be the heads of the the world's auto makers and Dick C sitting on his "head" wiping his ass with his HB penny stock certificates.

Pura Nica, Bobby

Electrical Co-Ops?

Submitted by Miskito Alan on 5 September, 2006 - 08:32.

Bobby - Actually, you have a great idea. This type thing has been done by "Co-Ops" in the southern part of the USA (America) for many years from electricity generated by the "Tennessee Vally Authority" which was established under "FDR" in the 1930s.

In southern Mississippi and Alabama; the "co-ops" would charge the same rates as the publically held utility companies such as Mississippi Power and Alabama Power. My house was on-line with a "public utility company". My business which used much more electricity than my house was on-line with a "co-op".

The monthly rates are the same for both entities. The difference is that every year; I would get a refund which always equaled about a month of electrical service for my business. Every five years, I would receive a serious chunk of money under the excess monies generated by the co-op and distributed to its (it's) members.

I never received anything from the public company except electricity and a hard time.

Miskito Alan &#174

WA State example

Submitted by fyl on 5 September, 2006 - 17:01.

There were (and may still be) a lot of electricity cooperatives in eastern Washington state. When I had a farm I had two grid connections--a regular one for the house and an "interruptable" one for my irrigation pump. The irrigation electricity cost about 1/3 the regular one but was never interrupted. So, I decided to investigate.

First, the reason the cooperatives had cheap electricity was that they got preferential rates from the Boneville Power Administration--in other words, the government dams on the Columbia River. But it took a little more research to find out about the 3:1 price difference.

Well, the majority of that "interruptable" power was for aluminum ore processing. (For reference, it takes about a kilowatt hour of electricity to produce a can from aluminum ore.) The way the plants worked, an interruption would be a disaster. It could easily take a day to recover from a 30 minute outage. Thus, interruptable was really just a buzzword for "cheap electricity for industry".

Phil

Submitted by Pompano Tom on 5 September, 2006 - 20:59.

I am not looking for an argument here, but your logic is not correct, as I understand it.

Utilities usually make power cheaper to consumers if they can shut it off to suit the power company, i.e. "interruptible". Think about it, if the power company needed to shed power, they would give you an incentive to allow them to shut off your non essential power like irrigation or pool pump, so that they can keep essential operations going like Aluminum manufacturers going.

The reason that Big Aluminum gets the preferred rate is because they buy so much of it. Just like magazine producers give discounts to frequent advertisers.

I am not a utility industry advocate, but did spend a number of years helping commercial consumers find ways to reduce their energy bill.

Mississippi Example

Submitted by Miskito Alan on 5 September, 2006 - 17:48.

In all the years that I had a shrimp processing plant in Biloxi, that electricity came from "Mississippi Power" which along with "Alabama Power" and others were part of the "Southern Companies" (public stock company).

Quite a bit of electricity is consumed by seafood processing companies due to the large freezers, graders, and peeling machines. Most of the huge electrical demand was usually in only three months of the year.

The plants still paid on a "demand basis" for all 12 months of the year. "Mississippi Power" told us that they had the electricity there for us and too bad if we did not use it. We still had to pay for it.

Another good example of no competition and state regulators.

Miskito Alan &#174

Uno Momento Alan,

Submitted by Pompano Tom on 5 September, 2006 - 20:45.

That is not quite fair, or the whole story.

Commercial electricity is normally billed for two components.

One is peak demand, KW usually billed on a monthly basis.

The other is KWH, or consumption.

In order for the utility to provide your temporary peak demands, they must install large transformers and wires to satisfy your needs. No matter if your peak needs are for one second or 3 months. This is costly to them.

This is a complicated issue and many utilities offer incentives to customers to run their peak operations at night (for example make ice at night, not during the day) so their bill will be lower.

This is not the forum to debate this, but they are not all bad guys. The problem is that most businesses, just do not understand what their alternatives are.

Shame on someone, I guess.

Believe Me Tom

Submitted by Miskito Alan on 5 September, 2006 - 20:59.

I was only referring to what I call the "peak demand penalty".

I am fully aware of all aspects of the electrical billing in Biloxi, Ms. and Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.

Miskito Alan &#174

hey MA

Submitted by toms on 5 September, 2006 - 09:03.

Kinda says something for things being in the hands of private cetizens, and public servants, just a comparison but an undenighable fact......

Lyin' Farmer John Wayne

the last time I checked . . .

Submitted by arlington on 5 September, 2006 - 15:50.

when everything is held in "private citizens collective hands" that is what we call government.

Geo Thermal in Nicaragua

Submitted by honky1 on 5 September, 2006 - 06:14.

The most promising source for power in Nicaragua is Geo-thermal. Like every other project seed money is the problem. The enclosed link says Nicaragua could end up a net exporter of electricity to other Central American countries.Gas and Oil powered plants are just to expensive for the economy to handle. See link: http://www.geothermie.de/iganews/no61/nica.htm

Worth a new category ?

Submitted by evets on 5 September, 2006 - 03:24.

Nica seems a place where some form of alternative energy is not a treehuggers thing but a necessity. There are quite a few useful posts on solar/wind energy on the site but, like the Welsh sport of Bogsnorkelling, somewhat obscured. Is it worth having a new topic/category or whateveritscalled for those of us who have things to offer and learn on this subject?

Obscure?

Submitted by Miskito Alan on 5 September, 2006 - 07:34.

Bog-Snorkeling is one on my favorite spectator sports and I watched last week on "Direct-TV". Nothing obscure about the sport except when the people are under the murky water.

The participants do get as muddy as most "mud wrestlers" and are quite a "mess".

Miskito Alan &#174

Bogsnorkeling?

Submitted by Former NL Member on 5 September, 2006 - 06:54.

Is that like gargling peanut butter?

A category of it's own

Submitted by cookshow on 5 September, 2006 - 04:44.

Electricity in Nicaragua is definitely in a category of it's own. I read an article in last weeks Nica/Tico Times that says President Bolanos sees a time in the future when Nica will be exporting power. Well I just spent 3 weeks in Nica & the discussion on electrity was a daily one & interestingly enough I never heard any of the Nicaraguans discussing exporting energy in the future. On the other hand they are very concerned about the time being as there is very unreliable service & rolling blackouts.

I know that everyone wants to look forward to a bright future for Nicaragua, but for now someone better figure out how to turn on the lights & stop the darkness.