Westin St. Maarten plans to Install Solar Power Photovoltaic System

Westin Hotel St. Maarten installs 119+ Kw Solar Power Electric System

It is the Caribbean's First Major Hotel to be partially powered with solar power. The Westin Dawn Beach, St. Maarten hotel has installed a solar panel power system on its roof.

Owners of The Westin Dawn Beach Resort & Spa, contracted with Caribbean Energy Store B.V. to get their solar power system up and running.

In April 2013, Anthony Prall Jr., C.E.O. of the Caribbean Energy Store B.V. designed a solar power electric system to facilitate the 317 guest rooms, restaurant’s, laundry facilities, spa, and hotel pool.

This 119+ Kilowatt hour system will cut a significant amount of carbon dioxide emissions from entering our Earth’s atmosphere and reduce the demand on the islands electric grid.  

This first phase of solar electric power will be providing 650 kilowatt hours a day on average.  

Anthony Prall Jr. a Caribbean Solar Power Professional designed the solar photovoltaic system of panels to be located on top of The Westin’s immense white roof.  A key component is its unique Fast Rack Fully ballasted with a Power Grip mechanical attachment option.  Manufactured from high density polyethylene (HDPE) with built-in UV inhibitor and low point loading, made in USA (ARRA compliant) with recycled/recyclable content, Sollega USA. This system has no roof penetrations,
a special design of Ballast Weight with roof heat welding holds it all in place even in 125 mph winds.

This Photo voltaic solar power system got a big Green start on July 5th of 2013 at 10 am when
Anthony Prall turned on the system after a 5 minute computer count down the system came on with its four hundred eighty solar panels, Suntech 290 watt polycrystalline panels. The 119+kilowatt solar system features 480 panels that are being installed by the Caribbean Energy Store B.V. of St. Maarten.

Second phase with a 3 inverter system with 1200 additional panels when completed will be:

a  348 KWp PV system @ 6.0 hours a day 2088 kw per day = $751.00 day at Electric current rate.  $ 275,000 a year or $ 8 million, 250 thousand dollars over 30 years of system lifetime.

We look forward to working with Westin Dawn Beach on clean energy and related sustainability initiatives in order to achieve the environmental and economic goals that we in the Caribbean.
 

The Westin ’s solar system include:

• More than 36 percent of the hotel’s 317 guestrooms will now be powered by solar;  

(112 rooms) .
• More than 40.0 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions and 35,500 pounds of nitrogen oxide emissions will be avoided over the next 30 years;
• Preventing 4875 tons of oil from being burned over the next 30 years; and
• The equivalent of planting 2,500 trees annually.

The system will generate over $8,250,000 in savings and revenue over its 30 year expected life.

"There is a capital outlay, and the owners realize the costs don't compare to the additional business that you do bring in. From the goodwill you create in the community. From the goodwill you create with the employees. There are a lot of additional paybacks other than just the pure financial payback," said Dan Szydlowski. The solar panels will produce 762,000 kilowatt-hours per year, or about 36 percent of the total electricity use of the property. It is about equal to the power needed to provide electricity to power 112 hotel rooms. 

The resort began taking advantage of the abundant sunshine in 2006 when it used solar panels to heat the property’s hot water for guest rooms.

Dan Szydlowski, Regional Manager, states, “With sunshine nearly guaranteed year round, we saw only positive attributes to making this capital and environmental investment.”

Once the expanded solar project is 1/3 complete in June 2013, more than 30 percent of the resort’s energy will be solar based and enough to operate parts of the resort from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Szydlowski continues, “This is just the start to operating in strictly solar mode for six hours per day.”

The solar system will produce more than 350 Kilowatt hours of electricity per hour .

The solar power system is projected to save the hotel more than $8,250.000 dollars in averted energy costs over the next 30 years. "If it didn't make financial sense we wouldn't do it.

The Westin hotel is looking in the future to making an entire hotel with rooms powered by the solar panels."

"We believe guests will request to stay in the only solar-powered rooms," said . Dan Szydlowski  Westins general manager.

According to Anthony Prall Jr. the Caribbean Energy Stores C.E.O. “We are excited to see more St. Maarten  property owners who are motivated to generate clean, renewable energy as part of the expanding green economy. Solar projects like this are generating employment opportunities for our New Country in a sustainable manner.

The installation was designed and installed by the Caribbean Energy Store B.V. of St. Maarten.
It includes 1200 Suntech STP-290 solar panels and three SGI 100KW inverters manufactured by Massachusetts based Solectria Renewables. The products provided are among the most efficient and aesthetically pleasing in the industry. The solar system will produce 23 million kilowatt hours (KWh) displacing 40 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. This much clean energy is equivalent to powering 500 typical homes for 30 years or driving 40,000,000 miles in an SUV.

The system includes a state of the art web-based monitoring system that provides a graphic interface to historical and real-time solar energy production data. Monitoring allows for greater visibility of the energy production and the information is utilized for both operational and educational purposes.

Today Opinion: Going solar

It’s not that we want to spoil the party or anything, but we have learned already a long time ago that there is a difference between announcing plans and executing them. For now, we are with our vice-prime minister after his announcement that the country is going solar.

There will be solar panels on schools, and also on government buildings with suitable roofs, there will be legislation that enables solar panel owners to sell their electricity to the utilities company, and there will be LEDs in out street lights, our schools, and probably also in all government buildings. And then there are of course those outdated air conditioning systems: they’ll have to make place for inverter systems that will cut down electricity consumption even further.

So far, it all sounds good and we have no argument with our minister here: this is the right way. It was almost funny to hear Marlin say that the electricity consumption at schools is “frightening.” What about the electricity consumption at the government building? The parliament? All those government offices where civil servants freeze themselves to death at the tax payer’s expense?

All this is obviously something everybody has known like forever. But now, finally, it seems that something is going to change for the better.

Now that we are on the subject, there is probably even more to be done in the field of energy saving. We’re thinking about the building code.

We’re no experts in construction, but it seems to us that building-insulation is somewhat of an unknown phenomenon in St. Maarten. With single glazing and breeze block walls it is no wonder that homes tend to get hot in the temperatures that are common on our island.

Not only that: in order to stay cool, badly or not insulated homes also have to let their air conditioning systems work harder to achieve the desired level of comfort.

And when air conditioning systems work harder, the electricity meter spins faster as well. At the end of the month, it all adds up.

But who knows, maybe there is no stopping our Vromi-minister once he discovers how much money is literally going out of the window every day.

Gebe will also benefit from solar power. The more solar is installed, the less pressure there will be on Gebe’s machinery. In the end it could even lead to less need for future investments in diesel engines for electricity production.

Minister Marlin also announced an educational solar project that, as far as we know, will be installed at the Philipsburg Jubilee Library.
Is there still something missing? Yes there is. We have not heard anything about incentives for citizens that consider going solar. These incentives could be fiscal, they could be direct subsidies on the purchase and installation of solar panels, or they could be soft loans.

If the switch to solar benefits everyone, including the utilities company, it makes sense to do something for citizens that are prepared to jump on the band wagon.

So far, incentives have not been part of the discussion, but that could still come. They would certainly help St. Maarten to become less dependent on fossil fuels.

What consumers will appreciate is that solar energy will allow them to stick to their old habits and to have their airco’s blast to their heart’s desire.

That is something we consider a downside. People are quick to understand that certain solutions save them money, but they have a hard time to understand that wasting energy is simply not done. Yes, maybe they understand this about water it’s precious on our island, don’t waste it, stickers in hotel rooms tell our visitors), but not about electricity.

We imagine that families that now have a tough time to make ends meet are rather careful with their air conditioning systems. But what will they do when running the airco on solar energy becomes ridiculously cheap? Right, they will run those systems around the clock.

Then we are back to square one and electricity consumption will not go down, it will go up. The same happened after the introduction of the first generation energy saving lamps: people thought this was going to save them so much money that they bought more lamps and that they let them burn longer. The net effect was that electricity consumption went up instead of down.

When the personal computer was introduced in the early eighties of last centuries there were visions of the paperless office. But because printing became so easy, the computer caused paper consumption to go through the roof.

All this should not happen with the switch to alternative energy. That’s why it is good that Minister Marlin also has an educational project up his sleeve. We’ll need it more than we want to know.

Today Editorial: Memorable decision

Vice Prime Minister William Marlin brought some good news yesterday: the government will buy the Emilio Wilson Estate and it will also embrace alternative energy.

That there is still a little matter like financing to be arranged seems a detail, but in a worst case scenario it could obviously still spoil the party.

Marlin’s assurance that the Emilio Wilson estate will be preserved, with the exception of a  piece adjacent to retreat, is more than welcome; it also means that the by environmentalists abhorred Rain Forest attraction park is off the books.

On another note, Marlin announced solar panels on schools, LED technology to replace conventional street lighting as well as lights in schools and, last but not least legislation to facilitate net-metering – a system that allows electricity produced through solar panels to be sold back to the utilities company.

A memorable series of decisions indeed – and it is not even Christmas yet.

Vromi-Minister Marlin embraces solar energy

St. Maarten – Vromi-Minister William Marlin wants to go full steam ahead with the development of alternative energy. At yesterday’s council of Ministers press briefing he indicated that there are plans to replace conventional street lights with energy saving LED light technology, to install solar panels on schools and to introduce net-meter legislation that will allow citizens switching to solar to receive compensation from utilities company Gebe for  pumping their electricity into the grid.

Marlin addresses the situation that arose with utilities company Gebe over its responsibility for street lights. “The responsibility for the maintenance of street lights rests with Gebe,” Marlin said. “but what does that entail? Gebe said that it does not mind taking the responsibility, but at the same time it asked: who is going to pay for it? That is the main reason why street lights are dropping out. Now every night people wonder how many lights will remain standing.”

Some street lights are working during the day and they are off at night. “It is ridiculous,” Marlin said. Some areas have become so dark at night that it is very dangerous.”

The minister said that a proposal will be discussed with Gebe this week.   Part of the discussion will be about replacing conventional street lights with LED lights. “That will bring about a drop in electricity consumption. The lighting is better and the LEDs have a longer life,” Marlin said. “The problems we are encountering now probably come at a good time. It gives us the opportunity to replace not working lights immediately with LEDs.”

The minister said that he has an offer from one company, and that he is looking for a party that will bring its own financing. “Rather than buying several millions of dollars worth of lights, we’re looking at financing the purchase from the savings we will realize.”

Marlin furthermore announced “the introduction of solar to St. Maarten and the finalization of legislation for net metering. “People who install solar panels and generate electricity that will be pumped in to Gebe’s grid will get compensation from Gebe for this. We are on the same page with the Gebe director about alternative energy.”

“The time has come to tackle alternative energy,” the minister continued. “Not just talking about it, but really implementing it.  Within a week we will launch an educational project that offers an opportunity to schools and the public to learn how solar works. The government will lead by example. Our schools have extensive roofs and they lend themselves for the placement of solar panels. The amount of electricity the schools are using is frightening.”

Marlin said that air conditioning systems would be replaced with energy saving inverter systems and that lights in the schools will also be replaced with LEDs. “Altogether this will reduce the need for Gebe to invest in engines that run on heavy fuel for the electricity production,” he said.

Today Editorial: Getting access to solar

The private sector is taking lead on implementing renewable energy on St.Maarten. The latest example of that leadership is Lee's Roadside Grill. The restaurant, which has a long history as one of the best local food restaurants in the country ,is now documented as an environmentally friendly business that is harnessing one of the key attractions of the Caribbean- the warm sunshine.

 Because a project  on the scale of what Lee's Roadside Grill has done is unnecessary and inaccessible to the average homeowner, we believe that government needs to pressure utility provider GEBE to create a project where people mount panels on their home that feed the entire grid, thus making the entire island a sun harvesting farm. There's also the option of having discussions with the banks to see if they will offer low interest rates on loans for people to get their own panels. As we saw at Lee's ,the savings on the utility bill will allow people to quickly repay their investment. The fact is solar is a feasible option. What we need now is a greater access to the technology.

Chinese Solar Inverter Market: Ready to Launch

The U.S. and European solar photovoltaic module market is dominated by Chinese solar panels from vendors such as Yingli, Suntech, and Trina Solar. Tariffs imposed and trade issues aside, China has won this market with low-cost, high-quality, crystalline silicon solar panels. Almost 50 percent of the solar modules deployed in the U.S. in 2011 were manufactured in China, according to GTM Research.

But when it comes to the other vital piece of solar system hardware, the inverter, “market share of Chinese inverter companies in the U.S. is virtually zero,” according to GTM Research solar analyst MJ Shiao. (That excludes made-in-China inverters by Advanced Energy, Satcon, et al.) The inverter market is dominated by Germany’s SMA and other European and American vendors such as Fronius, Advanced Energy, Kaco, and Satcon.

Every grid-tied solar system requires an inverter to transform electricity from DC to AC. But Chinese inverters haven’t come to dominate in the U.S. or EU for a number of reasons:

• Since the PV inverter represents only about 7 percent of the total cost of the solar system, a cheaper inverter doesn’t have that strong an impact on system price. There’s a relatively smaller cost advantage to be gained by moving to a cheaper, less reputable Chinese inverter.
• Just as many installers didn’t use Chinese modules because of quality, bankability, and reliability concerns, installers are reluctant to go with Chinese inverters. As MJ Shiao comments, “The issue is exacerbated with inverters for two reasons: 1) you can’t discount the quality perception hurdle as easily because there’s not as much cost to discount, and 2) inverters are the single largest culprit of system failure in most PV systems, which means there’s a much higher reliability standard by developers and third-party engineers.”
• European manufacturers had a tough time entering the U.S. market because of the difficulty getting UL1741 certification (it’s taken some suppliers up to two years to get UL certification). Many Chinese manufacturers have been going through the process, but it’s going to take a while for the bulk of them to obtain certification, according to Shiao.

One Chinese company, Chint, aims to be the first Chinese inverter firm to surmount these barriers. The Chint executives I spoke with last week called Chint “the General Electric of China” and suggested that if you haven’t yet heard of the $4 billion annual revenue firm, you soon will.

On-Grid vs. Off-Grid Solar Power Systems

Many times, when people want a solar power system installed, there is a misunderstanding of what it means to be on-grid versus off-grid. A lot of times we hear people say they want to be “off the grid” thinking that is what it means to go solar. What they really mean is that they want to reduce their energy usage, but don’t realize you can do it and still be tied to the grid. On-grid systems stay connected to your power lines which are run by your utility company whereas off-grid ones only rely on the solar system and batteries.

For an off-grid system, in order to store the energy produced by your system, you would need a battery back-up. The batteries that off-grid systems require bring up the overall cost of the system, are bulky, unreliable, and are not as environmentally friendly. This usually defeats the purpose for many of you who are going solar with the incentive to save money and live a greener lifestyle. Since off-grid systems require a battery back-up system, it is not as reliant as it can only hold a certain amount of energy. Additionally, the battery typically has a shorter life span than most solar panels, which means you will eventually need to replace it. Any maintenance required for an off-grid system will not be covered by your utility company, but is dependent on you. Although there are advantages to having an off-grid system, like having power stored in the battery back-up during emergency situations like outages, the overall advantages in comparison to being on-grid are not as beneficial.

Being on-grid and net-metering are the most cost effective ways to store energy for solar systems. Since you are tied to the grid, you won’t need a battery back-up since you can pull energy into or from the grid. On-grid solar projects are typically more simple than off-grid ones because for an on-grid set up, the power goes directly into your utility grid. Simply think of the utility grid as a large battery that is already available for your system to store an unlimited amount of the energy that it produces! When a solar system is grid-tied, the excess power that is produced can turn your net meter backwards and earn you credit from your utility company. For an off-grid battery backed up system, not only do you have to pay for the battery back-up but the excess energy that you produce can’t be exchanged for credit. The biggest drawback of being on-grid is that when the grid goes out, so does your power. However, the reason for this is the grid-tied solar electric inverter has to shut down in order to avoid injuring nearby line workers.

The reasons why on-grid systems tend to be the more popular choice among homeowners getting solar systems due to security and convenience. Majority of solar systems typically offset around 50%-75% of your usage depending on the size of your system, your location, and other various things dependent on your individual situation. With a 50%-75% offset, an on-grid system should still significantly bring down your electric costs while providing a cleaner source of energy. With that said, with an on-grid system, you can rest assured that the rest of your electric usage that isn’t offset can be pulled from the grid.

Remember, having an off-grid system really just means having a home that is not connected to the utility grid. Other than that, a home with an off-grid system can actually use just as much power as a regular home that hasn’t gone solar. Unless you completely want to be independent from your utility company and want nothing to do with them, don’t get your idea of what it means to be on or off grid mixed up. If you live in rural or remote areas where there are no utility companies available then off-grid systems are usually your only option. Don’t forget to always do your research and get all the right facts before disregarding your options.