Basil Energetics is an innovative company focused on providing Solar Power + Energy Efficient appliances, based out of Chennai. They recently demonstrated the effectiveness of their Energy Efficient appliances powered (only) by Solar Panels mounted inside/on an insulated container of a Van, in the recently concluded REnergy renewable energy expo at Coimbatore. I met the Chairman of the company at their Ambattur office in Chennai yesterday.
The best thing about their innovative system is: It powers 1 x 1.5 Tonne AC, 1 x 300L Refrigerator, 4 x LED Lights, 2 x Fan using a set of 4 x 4 Thin Film Solar Panels of 100W capacity each (Total: 1.6 KW) that occupies an area of 125 sq. feet. This is possible because they have designed all the above mentioned appliances to be highly energy efficient.
You can see their (partial) setup in the above photo. They have not used batteries in this system, and hence, I was informed that the entire system was running using the solar power generated on the premises on the day of the expo. The heart of the system (if we can call it that) is a controller (iGrid) that looks like this:
This controller monitors and measures the available power from the solar panels, and also monitors the load requirement for any given time (continuously), and:
- If there is adequate power from the solar panels, it will run all the (DC-based) appliances directly using solar power.
- If there is insufficient power from the solar panels, it will run as many appliances as possible using solar power, and will run the remaining appliances using the grid power (if connected).
- If there is no solar power (during the night - for example), it will run all the appliances using the power from the grid.
- Excess power can be fed back to the grid if the system is enabled to do so. A few Indian states pay consumers for receiving power generated by their rooftop panels. (If grid-connectivity is sanctioned and appropriate devices as recommended by the electricity board is used.)
If required, they can also provide batteries (to store solar energy) and micro-inverters (to run other appliances). However, batteries are not recommended due to their high cost, frequent replacements, and other limitations. Besides, electricity from the grid is mostly available during the night in many places.
Here's the Zero Energy Home chart prepared by the company: (Click to see a larger picture)
They have taken the common appliances used in a typical home and the number of hours they are used, and have calculated the electricity consumed by each over a day. The first five appliances are the energy efficient ones sold by them and the remaining five are common ones sold in the market. According to this scenario (provided to me by the company), the electricity consumption per day comes to 7.15 units and the energy fed back to the grid using a 2 KW solar panel system comes to 7.35 units. That means, the house can produce more electricity than it consumes! Please note: Since there is no battery/charge controller/inverter involved, this is applicable only in states that have grid connectivity and feed-in tariff option. Also, there will be variation on case to case basis.
You can read more about their energy efficient appliances, and how much power (and money) one can save by using energy efficient appliances from here.
Basil Energetics has introduced another interesting product: Battery powered electric bicycle (iZip)
This is an indigenous electric bicycle that uses a brushless HUB motor (back wheel). They have used contactless throttle for stepless variation of speed and removable lithium-ion batteries that give 6-times more life compared to lead-acid batteries. Max. speed is 20-15 KM. Range is 25 KM per charge. Time taken for charging is 45 - 90 minutes, depending on the state of battery discharge.
Here's the company website for further information/contact details: Basil Energetics.
Disclaimer: This article has been written based on the information provided to me by the company officials. The photos have been published with their permission. Readers are requested to verify all claims while engaging with the company/products. This article is for your information only (not promotional) as I think they are doing something very interesting. This site is not affiliated to the company in any way.
