ABB has announced that 84 new villas in Kuwait will be partially powered by the sun with the help of its solar inverter technology.
The 150 residential houses project is initiated and fully funded by Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS). The project demonstrates the role of solar energy in Kuwait, as a key solution in the ever-growing demand for energy.
Each villa will be fitted with a 3.6 to 12.5 kW capacity solar power system, depending on the available space on the roof of each villa, with ABBs string inverter technology. The main aim of those small plants is to reduce utility bills for the villas owners by 3-5% annually by making maximum use of the suns energy.
A range of single and three-phase string inverters, convert DC power generated by the solar panels into AC power, helping the villas to be more energy self-sufficient. The project is implemented by Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), in coordination with local renewable energy solutions contractor Life Energy.
The project will prove that grid-integrated, rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems for homes in Kuwait are now a reality and is anticipated to encourage lawmakers, decision makers and the public, to be part of the effort to achieve the national target of 15% of electricity demand from renewable sources by 2030, said a statement from ABB.
Life Energy’s CEO Hamad Alradhan said: “Rooftop solar is an essential part of the solution to achieve Kuwaits ambitious renewable energy goals. Residential applications pose unique challenges for manufacturers and system design engineers. The extensive capacity range of quality string inverter from ABB enables us to successfully achieve the desired efficiency of our system designs and to take full advantage of the high solar irradiance in Kuwait.”
Turkey Noor, the sales and marketing manager from ABBs Electrification Products division in Kuwait, said: “We firmly believe that solar technology should be a leading sustainable energy source for both distributed power generation and building applications. That is why we are always committed to innovating our range of solar technology, developing new PV storage solutions and product platforms to ensure the best possible performance for our customers.”