Renewable energy solutions for self-consumption of electricity offer a wide range of very competitive advantages such as a very long life of the installations and low maintenance and operating costs. The advantages also come from the very low environmental impact and the absence of impact on global warming. In addition, they are scalable, as off-grid systems such as photovoltaics and aerovoltaics can be powered by often abundant resources such as wind or sun. Habitat EnR, an expert in renewable energies, considers that the use of these solutions contributes to the improvement of a green economy and allows end consumers to produce the electricity they consume.
Lower prices for renewable energies will offer a particularly important opportunity in the long term, especially in rural areas of developed and emerging countries, where gridindependent systems can use natural resources to produce electricity directly.
According to Habitat EnR, the continuous development of technical solutions therefore plays a key role in accelerating the transformation of the energy sector in France into a market entirely dominated by renewable energies. Here is an example of these solutions explained by the expert in energy solutions:
Photovoltaic solar energy (PV)
Photovoltaics, also known as solar panels, is an electronic device that converts sunlight directly into electricity. Solar energy is available in abundance around the world and plays a fundamental role in providing access to energy in both rural and urban areas. It is indeed a mature, constantly evolving and cost-competitive technology. Today, there is a wide range of photovoltaic cell technologies on the market in France of different sizes and using different types of materials.
Hydropower
Hydropower is a renewable energy technique based on the natural water cycle. In the absence of a nationally agreed definition of small hydropower, the upper limit is generally set at 10 MW, although this may vary in some parts of the world. Hydropower generation is generally divided into small units often classified into three categories; less than 1 MW, less than 100 kW and less than 10 kW.
Energy storage
The concept of energy storage refers to systems and technologies that store energy derived from a primary source for later use. As stated by Habitat RE, batteries and other types of energy storage cannot in themselves provide access to electricity, but can ensure the sustainability of electricity produced by systems that generate electrical energy, which is stored when production is running. Energy storage systems are therefore important to ensure the stability of individual or collective electrification projects.
Wind energy
Favourable natural factors are essential for small wind solutions to become widespread. The potential for wind energy is developing very rapidly with increasing wind speeds. In fact, when wind speed doubles, the energy content increases by a factor of 8/1.
