What role does G8 play in the wider context of renewable energy?
G8 stands for "generating infinity" and one of the missions of the company is generating infinite energy through renewable sources. Our portfolio is shared between solar and wind since we feel these sectors will have the most exciting growth in the years to come. Climate change and global sustainability are the key drivers so we try to reflect on solutions that can reduce the physical impact on the environment while avoiding the installation of large structures at ground level. On land, if you need 50 MW of solar power, you have to create a large plant and that can affect the biodiversity in the area. Fortunately, there is enough water around the world to be able to build floating platforms that do not imply deforestation and offer additional powering foundations for these large plants.
We focus on blending floating solar projects with hydro dams because they complement each other very well and can cater to both domestic and corporate needs. Due to droughts, hydro dams are beginning to experience water shortages or major fluctuations which are being deepened by the heat waves that prompt a high consumption of energy with air conditioning. The floating solar platforms that we develop are able to increase the power capacity of each hydrodam and the evaporative cooling of water spaces further increases the efficiency of solar PV systems. In addition to these, our power management system monitors the loads and balances the power between solar and hydropower throughout night and day to enhance the power supply of each hydrodam to the grid. We term our floating solar system Green Power Manager, GPM for short.
How do you see the landscape of renewables in Asia in the following years?
We are in a very interesting phase since solar and wind are not new technologies but are now reestablishing their spot on the renewable energy map. In Asia the grid has not been updated for many years and a 1 GW fluctuation can create a massive strain. In this context, energy balancing becomes a highly sought-after solution.
Since storage plays an important role in the stabilization of renewable energy, we are creating a full-cycle ecosystem with solar energy in the center.
Its code name is "island power systems" and it is intended to offer self-sustainable energy to industries that are isolated from the grid. A lot of our R&D going forward is aimed towards developing energy storage solutions and providing sustainable continuous power from renewable sources. A hydro dam can be predominantly solar powered while leaving the rest of the reserve to be used as a battery storage mechanism; while both power sources can benefit from a single infrastructure, high voltage power lines being very expensive.
How is Asia faring in relation to the grid compared to other geographies in the world?
There are some markets of renewable energy that have been maturing across Europe, offshore wind being a main attraction already, starting from the Nordic countries to the UK. The smart grid that is going to connect all the European states is a tremendous evolution on the renewables market and importing it to Asia will unravel new opportunities to us. However, we need to start implementation before it reaches us since Taiwan, Korea and Japan have just properly started the green transition journey. Europe has a 15 year head start in maintaining and building robust grids, but we are confident that our floating solar and floating wind projects will definitely step up the game across Asia.
How relevant is hydrogen in the renewable energy context at the moment?
Although hydrogen is an important resource, it is vital to focus on immediate solutions that can benefit the community. Being a low-density gas, hydrogen is not easy to handle and needs a special infrastructure, so it will probably become more valuable in the next 20 years or so. Because we do not yet have enough solar or wind energy to create green hydrogen, we need to shift our attention towards sustainable means (like solar panels) of charging electric cars, for example. It is important to balance what we can do today while developing for the future because climate change is a very real issue.
What are your goals for G8 in the coming few years?
We plan to generate energy that is scalable and that does not take five years to plan, engineer and develop. Our solar and wind projects need to be fully functional in a one-year timeframe in order to offer high quality clean energy as fast as possible. As an industry, we should aim to have an abundance of renewables, and the UK is going in the right direction in going heavy on Wind and preparing for the future developing the hydrogen economy. Bottom line, we really need to accelerate our global developments to decarbonize of energy production, creating a more sustainable ecosystem with our energy sources and move towards a net-zero economy.
