Green Energy

 Green energy is the energy sector that uses renewable energy sources (RES): sunlight, water currents, wind, tides, and geothermal heat. It is also called renewable or regenerative energy.

According to scientists, “green energy” is able to solve many modern problems. Reducing emissions into the atmosphere will avoid millions of premature deaths due to illnesses caused by air pollution. In connection with this, health care costs will also decrease.

Non-conventional energy sources include solar, wind, tidal, wave, geothermal and thermonuclear energy. Particular hopes are pinned on hydrogen, as it is the most promising energy source.

Bioenergy, is energy, both electrical and thermal, produced from fuels of organic origin. The latter are divided into three generations. The first of these includes products derived from the processing of waste.

The reason for seeking alternative sources of energy is the need to obtain it from the energy of renewable or virtually inexhaustible natural resources and phenomena. The same can be taken into account environmental friendliness and economic efficiency.

It is also worth noting that the concept of green energy development in Kyrgyzstan is relevant. Long-term measures are needed to strengthen the energy potential of the Kyrgyz Republic: regardless of water inflow to the Toktogul reservoir to ensure sufficient water in the reservoir; rational use of water and energy resources; construction of new generating facilities, renewable energy sources and “green energy”, including the development of incentives to increase the capacity of small hydropower.

The Green Alliance of Kyrgyzstan carries out its activities to promote green energy in the country and assists relevant stakeholders in this direction.

Benefits

 The main advantage of absolutely all alternative energy sources is their environmental friendliness. In other words, during the operation of such stations there are no harmful emissions into the atmosphere. Even an accident at a wind, solar or any other alternative power plant will only lead to material losses of its owners, but will not cause a global environmental disaster, as it can happen, for example, with a nuclear power plant.

It should also be noted that the installation of most types of plants does not harm the surrounding landscape. If we talk about wind power plants, they occupy minimal space and can even be combined with some other economic activities.

Another undeniable plus of alternative energy sources is their inexhaustibility. That is, the installation of any plant will be guaranteed to provide the necessary amount of electricity here or there for an unlimited period of time.

Hydropower

Hydropower is an area of human economic activity, a set of large natural and artificial subsystems that serve to convert the energy of water flow into electrical energy. And today it is the most frequently used type of green energy. On the one hand, the construction of hydroelectric power plants is the most expensive, but on the other hand they pay for themselves much faster, and the cost of the energy they generate is significantly lower compared to wind or solar power.

Iceland, Canada and Norway are the most active in hydroelectric power generation. And since the 2000s, they have been actively catching up with China, whose government considers this type of energy the most promising for their country.

Hydropower in Kyrgyzstan.

Hydropower resources of the Kyrgyz Republic consist of 268 rivers, 97 large canals and 18 reservoirs, the potential of which is about 143 billion kWh of annual electricity production. To date, about 10% of the potential is used, i.e. the annual power generation averages about 14 billion kWh.

The hydropower potential of small rivers and watercourses is about 5-8 billion kWh per year, of which the republic uses less than 1%. The production base of the Kyrgyz power system includes 9 large power plants with installed capacity of 3,746 MW, including 7 hydropower plants with installed capacity of 3,030 MW. In addition, 9 small hydropower plants with a total capacity of 38.5 MW are in operation.

Wind power

 Wind power is a branch of the energy industry that specializes in the use of wind energy.

It is a promising area based on an inexhaustible natural resource. In recent years, the development of wind energy is happening very rapidly around the world. There is a tendency to further develop the spread of technology.

In this case the energy required for agriculture and industry is obtained by converting the kinetic potential of the air masses. This process requires the installation of a special windmill. The power of the latter depends directly on the total area of the blades, and to a lesser extent on the height of the construction.

Most often the described units are installed in the coastal zone, which is considered the most promising in this area. Interestingly, windmills practically do not require conventional fuel for their work. It is estimated that one generator with power of 1 MW for 20 years of its operation saves about 92 thousand barrels of oil or about 29 thousand tons of coal.

Wind energy in Kyrgyzstan.

Wind power in Kyrgyzstan is not feasible due to the low average speed of air flows. This is not sufficient for the operation of powerful wind generators, such as those in Kazakhstan. Even in the Boom Gorge or Orto-Tokoy it makes no sense to erect wind generators – these plants will be ineffective.

Aren’t wind turbines harmful to the environment?

 Most scientists and representatives of the expert community agree that wind and solar power facilities contribute greatly to minimizing the anthropogenic impact on the climate and the environment. Electricity from RES facilities replaces the output of conventional power plants running on coal or gas, thus reducing emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere.

When designing wind farms, ornithological observations are always carried out, and bird migration routes in the area are studied. To avoid birds colliding with wind turbines, each tower is equipped with repellent devices that emit sound to scare away birds, and each windwheel blade has red stripes, making it more distinguishable from the landscape.

Solar Energy

 Solar energy is the light and heat radiation from the sun, which is used to generate electricity. While we are shaping the technology to capture and convert solar energy, the Earth is already receiving it in large quantities.

Solar energy, which reaches the surface of the planet in an hour and a half, is enough to cover all of humanity’s energy consumption for an entire year. Since the sun is not going to disappear anytime soon, we have an opportunity to completely switch to it and put an end to the global use and consumption of fossil fuels.

There are several types of SES, which differ in design:

• A tall structure is built, on top of which there is a system of heliostats that concentrate sunlight.
• Consists of separate parabolic-cylindrical mirror concentrators with a receiver in focus. The latter are fed with oil, which accumulates heat and then transfers it to the water by evaporation.
• Solar ponds. They look like peculiar pools of small volume, the walls of which are covered with black heat-absorbing material. At the bottom of the tank is placed a layer of steep brine, then its concentration is gradually reduced. Fresh water is poured on top. Plus, at the bottom of the pool is a heat exchanger filled with freon, ammonia or other easily boiling liquid. The latter is converted into a vaporous state and transfers its kinetic energy to the turbine.

It is interesting to note that any solar panel used in households is a direct-acting SPS.

Solar energy in Kyrgyzstan.

Due to favorable geographical location and climatic conditions the territory of Kyrgyzstan receives on average 4.64 billion MWh of radiant energy or 23.4 kWh per square meter per year from the sun, and the average annual duration of sunshine varies across the territory from 2100 to 2900 hours. According to experts, solar energy has large resources and the prospect of real use in the fuel and energy complex.

On the territory of CE “Bishkekteploenergo” installed 364 flat solar collectors with a capacity of 1.4 kW / h each, the total capacity is 0.518 MWT or 0.445 Gcal / hr. At the same time, savings of natural gas will be 124.8 thousand cubic meters per year at a cost of 2.2 million soms at the existing tariff.

Geothermal Energy

 Geothermal power uses water extracted from hot springs as the carrier. Such plants are considered to be much more economically advantageous than conventional thermal power plants. This is due to the fact that there is no need to additionally heat water for their operation. Most often geothermal plants are installed in volcanic areas, where water is heated to the required temperature at relatively shallow depths. The best option – is to use the medium derived from the geyser. But if there are none nearby, we have to resort to drilling.

It is widely used in the United States, Mexico, and the Philippines. The share of energy in the Philippines is 19%, Mexico – 4% and the U.S. (taking into account “direct” use for heating) – about 1%. Total energy of all US Geo TPPs exceeds 2 GW.

Unlike coal-fired power plants, geothermal power plants use a renewable heat source that has a constant supply. Studies have shown that only 6.5% of the world’s total potential is used in the industry, which means that there is enough energy to last for many years to come. In addition, the amount of greenhouse gas from geothermal power plants is only 5% of what coal-fired power plants emit.

Geothermal energy in Kyrgyzstan.

The study of geothermal sources of the Kyrgyz Republic in terms of temperature and flow regimes indicates the low-quality nature of thermal resources – not more than 60°C. At least 20 geothermal sources are known, the energy of which can be used for recreational purposes, also for heating and hot water supply, mainly in the recreational areas of Issyk-Kul region.

To produce electricity with acceptable technical and economic indicators, the temperature of geothermal water must be at least 150°C

Bioenergy

 Bioenergy is energy, both electrical and thermal, produced from fuels of organic origin. The latter are divided into two generations. The first of them includes products obtained as a result of waste processing. This option is considered the most accessible, but also the most inefficient.

Second-generation biofuels include products obtained by pyrolysis, i.e. the rapid transformation of mass into liquid. The latter is much easier to transport and subsequently convert into fuel for cars or power plants. Sources of the described raw materials can be algae, as well as some types of cultivated plants such as corn, sugarcane, rapeseed and others.

The use of biomass for energy production on the basis of modern technology is much more environmentally friendly in comparison with the energy use of traditional organic resources such as coal.

Bioenergy in Kyrgyzstan.

The potentiality of implementation of biogas technologies in Kyrgyzstan significantly exceeds the current level of their use. As a result of the anaerobic digestion of half of the annual animal waste in Kyrgyzstan, it is possible to produce 130 million m3 of biogas.

For supplying all the arable land in the republic with organic fertilizers produced in biogas plants it is enough to process 50% of the available livestock waste (2,5 million tons). At the same time, more than 100 million m3 of biogas and 1,2 million tons of biological fertilizers will be produced.

Obtaining and use of biogas and biofertilizer have been recently extended in the country. One of the first biogas plants in Kyrgyzstan was built in Petrovka village of Chui oblast in the Association “Farmer”.