Being Sun Smart: an interview with Dr Tony Bittar, Front End Solar. Part 1

In the last decade the cost of installing a domestic solar power system has dropped by approximately 40 percent. At the same time the costs of mains supply of electricity is rising. There's an the increase in demand for electricity as electric vehicles become more common and data centres are being established in main centres.
Throw in extreme weather events and more people are beginning to think about reducing their reliance on the national grid. However only around three percent of homes in Aotearoa have solar energy.

WCL sits down with Dr Tony Bittar of Front End Solar to talk about the development of the solar energy industry in New Zealand.

This is Part 1 of a 2 part interview. Part 2 will be posted next week.

WCL: Tony, tell us a bit about who you are and what do you do?

TB: My name is Tony Bittar. I emigrated to New Zealand with my family a long time ago. I studied physics at university. I went overseas to do my PhD and then came back to NZ to work at DSIR. First in the physics and engineering laboratory, then at the Callaghan Institute. I worked at the Measurements Standards Laboratory and I was in charge of the Light Standards for New Zealand.

In the 1980s and 90s I started doing work on solar energy in New Zealand. We started making measurements of solar energy in NZ. We gained some research funding for solar energy. One thing led to another and I went overseas for a few years. While overseas I worked on solar research at Sydney University. We ended up with a start up in California. We set up a company that did solar energy in California, France and India and came back to New Zealand determined to do solar energy in New Zealand.

At that time, there was not much talk about photovoltaic (PV) technology and I pushed very hard for an industry association. We set up the NZ Photovoltaic Association to promote photovoltaic solar energy. In 2012 I started a consultancy called Front End Solar Technologies and gained some contractual arrangements with partners overseas, mostly in the Pacific region, to do photovoltaic on a large scale for the islands of the Pacific.

Now I’m doing solar energy in New Zealand, from residential rooftop solar to commercial and industrial solar systems. For the Pacific I have collaborated with international companies to do large scale replacement of diesel powered energy generation right throughout the Pacific.

Right now we have contracts with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to cover countries like Kiribati, Tuvalu, Tonga and Vanuatu. All to do with replacing reliance on diesel with photovoltaic systems and batteries.

WCL: I’ve seen you described as the leading expert in solar in New Zealand. Are you comfortable with that title?

People keep telling me that I am. I’m not the only one, not now. I have been a pioneer, setting up the Photovoltaic Association and I’m recognised by the Sustainable Electricity Association of New Zealand (SEANZ). I’m recognised as the forefather of the whole thing. But it’s for other people to judge.

WCL: How many people does Front End Solar employ? Are they all based in Wellington?

TB: We’re seven people. Three directors, a project manager and three employees.

We do work with partners, mostly electricians, and we have at least three steady partnerships with electricians who cover different regions.

There are solar qualifications on top of electrical qualifications that are required. We do the installation and certification is done by our electricians.

WCL: Besides solar what other alternative, renewable energy systems does Front End Solar offer clients?

TB: We have done design work with wind generators and with hydropower on a small scale. What we are finding now is that small scale wind generation for example, is not as accessible as PV. Hydro really does depend on the situation.

The majority of our work now is on solar and battery. Whether it’s on-grid or off-grid doesn’t matter. But there’s less and less demand for wind generation at a small scale.

We have had some discussions with large scale windfarm companies, not to establish wind farms but to supplement with PV. PV is cheaper, more accessible and easier to scale. It’s become dominant in the world industry and the costs have come down substantially.

The PV systems are mostly from China and China has been very, very aggressive in its production and now there’s a glut. The prices have come down so much that nothing competes with solar.

WCL: What about the quality of these systems and the technology?

TB: Initial systems that went in to the Pacific were not as high quality as we have now. We see, for example, calls from the ADB to replace systems that went in 6-10 years ago. Especially ones with battery. We have a project in Kirbati and Tuvalu where the outer islands initally had the impetus to install solar. The project is to replace these because the quality was not good. They used acid batteries that only last seven years.

More and more the quality is high for the panels and reasonably high for the batteries. One thing that has happened over the last ten years is that every single element of the PV chain is being guaranteed. The panels are now guaranteed for production for thirty years. The batteries are guaranteed for 10, 000 cycles which is one cycle a day for thirty years. The inverters are guaranteed for ten years.

If you look at other technologies they are all moving parts and they wear out. There’s a lot of maintenance whereas PV panels – you just leave them. All you need to do is clean them sometimes. In NZ we’re finding we don’t need to clean them – the rain is enough.

We do provide a cleaning service if people want it, but few people ask us to do that.

WCL: If doing a new build here in the city does it make economic sense to be off grid?

Absolutely stay on the grid.

In a residential situation the peak energy use is in the morning and in the evening. The sun produces during the middle of the day. There’s only two ways of meeting the loads when there is no sun. Either through the grid or through batteries.

As a principle, I started Front End Solar saying I would only do systems with batteries even if customers stay on the grid. The reason for that is that with just a small amount of battery we can offset the afternoon and evening peak in the residential areas. And you save a lot more money.

You have electricity during the day and you send it off to the grid and they pay you 8 cents or 12 cents. But when they give it back to you they charge you 30 cents. So if you can store it you are gaining. In fact the calculations that I do clearly show that if you have a battery your returns are better. Even though your costs are higher, you cover your costs in the short term. You’re gaining, you’re actually offsetting nearly eighty percent of your bill. Without batteries you’re only offsetting thirty to forty percent. So in short, going off-grid has a lot of penalties involved because of the lifestyle of the people. If you go off-grid you have to be strict, to live according to the amount of energy you produce. You do have to have some way of replacing the lack of electricity either by battery or by diesel generator. I prefer not to advise too many people to go with the generator.

WCL: Is it feasible to put solar panels on an existing house in Wellington if you were in, say, the Aro valley with not as much sun as you’d get in Miramar, for example?

TB: Let me tell you how I do the calculations. I take the half hourly data for a whole year. How much you use, every half hour of the year. And I match that with solar input, battery, and the grid. So when you’re producing it either goes to meet the load, or its stored. Or it gets sold to the grid. I do all these calculations. I ask you the rate, how much you pay etc. There’s 17,520 half hours in a year. And I match every half hour with the system I propose. This way, the results take into account the solar resource at the spot, so they suit the client’s needs.

We have places around the North Island and they’re all making money, in terms of offsetting the bill. Some are offsetting as much as 90 percent of their electricity bill. Others are paying maybe 20 percent of what they used to pay.

With banks now giving zero interest loans for five years we find systems pay themselves off in five years, so you’re winning.

We do have clients in Holloway Road, they don’t get as much solar energy as those in Miramar so what you need is more solar capture during the day, a clear view of your roof. If you have some shading of the roof we take that into account and just give you more panels in the area where there is no shading.

Cold is better for a PV panel. The panels, as they get hot, produce less. Whereas as they get cold, they produce more.

WCL: What’s a typical cost and how long does it take to install PV panels in an average three bedroom, two adults, two kids home?

TB: It really does depend on your demand. A typical New Zealand residence uses around 8000 kilowatt hours a year. That can require 18-20 panels and maybe battery. But installation can be done inside two days. It then has to be checked and certificated. That can take more time in Wellington – maybe two or three weeks.

This interview continues next week with Part 2