Experts have calculated that in Kyrgyzstan the sun shines for 270 days a year.
The average annual intensity of solar radiation is about 2400 kWh/m2 per year.
The advantage of solar installations is that they can operate efficiently in cities and villages, at industrial enterprises and municipal facilities everywhere, regardless of the location of power lines and the availability of other energy sources.
Solar energy helps solve some everyday problems: heating water, heating, and electricity. An example is the use of solar energy at the Rehabilitation Center for Homeless Children under the mayor’s office of Bishkek. There, water heating is carried out year-round by a solar collector installed on the roof of the building. Heat is transferred through the heat exchanger to the storage tank via the solar system circuit, where the cold water is heated. The hot water storage tank has thermal insulation, is equipped with an electric heater to maintain the necessary temperature, and has a temperature sensor to measure the water temperature inside the tank. The solar system circuit includes a circulating pump, the operation of which is automatically regulated by a controller. Monitoring of the system’s operation is conducted via the controller’s display. According to the director of the Rehabilitation Center for Homeless Children, Alexey Petrushevsky, the Center is a specialized institution for the psychological and social rehabilitation of children and adolescents, operating on state funding. Therefore, the savings in electricity due to the daily provision of 500 liters of hot water from solar energy results in tremendous savings in energy resources and the meager city budget. Indeed, the sun provides not only warmth and good mood for the teenagers but also significant savings. The hot water obtained from the sun is used for washing dishes, floors, and even bathing the little ones. But here’s the trouble – a leak was found in the 500-liter tank. The reason – all the rubber gaskets failed, meaning they dried out from high temperatures during the operational period and became brittle. On January 13-14, 2014, representatives of the company “San Field” replaced the worn rubber gaskets with more reliable silicone ones and eliminated the water leak from the tank. “To ensure the quality of the work done, we also tested the tank. That is, we created pressure in the tank slightly higher than the working pressure, that is, 8 atmospheres instead of 6, and checked its tightness,” says engineer Igor Luzgin, “Only after pressure testing the tank according to the technical documentation did we ‘hand over’ the work to the customer.” In this case, the customer is the ED “BIOM,” which transferred this installation to the Rehabilitation Center for Homeless Children. From the moment of the transfer of the solar equipment to the Center, the coordinators of the practical component of the SPARE project took over the technical maintenance of the solar system. They invited specialists from the company “San Field” and financed all repair works. “Projects for ‘solar’ hot water supply are already being implemented in the sanatoria and rest houses in Issyk-Kul, as well as in private housing,” says the director of “San Field,” Marat Yunusov, “It’s time to install them in socially significant facilities as well. Unfortunately, this is an expensive endeavor, and the lack of donors hampers even the most noble intentions. For example, the Center for Parents and Disabled Children ‘Ardi’ does not have hot water supply. They decided to install a similar solar system as an example of the RCHC. However, the estimate for just the installation of the equipment came to 270,000 soms. The staff of ‘Ardi’ have sought help from various donors, including UNICEF, but the funds were never ‘found.’ The installation of the solar system in the RCHC and its subsequent technical maintenance has been carried out since 2010 by the ‘School Project for Resource and Energy Use’ (SPARE, Norway). ED ‘BIOM’ is the national coordinator of SPARE in Kyrgyzstan. Currently, this solar installation not only serves the benefit of the Center’s students but also has a demonstration function. Today, it is the only social facility in the capital equipped with a solar system. It attracts the attention of the public, business structures, and government authorities to the possibilities of implementing initiatives in the field of renewable energy use. Text and photo: Irina Bayramukova
