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You know what's amazing? Farmers in rural Pakistan choosing to prefer solar to irrigate their crops (panels + VFD/inverter + 10 HP 3-phase motor): https://www.

You know what's amazing? Farmers in rural Pakistan choosing to prefer solar to irrigate their crops (panels + VFD/inverter + 10 HP 3-phase motor): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfNgF0WTeCM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfNgF0WTeCM Or grinding wheat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G2evJOiU9I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G2evJOiU9I The comments in these video are all about how much does it cost, what is your contact number, etc. Clearly this is a sea-change. Also amazing that they all have cell phones :-) The old system included 80+ year old hand-started diesel engines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZuqT7dgM08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZuqT7dgM08 These are very cool, but solar requires less man-power.

bausano_michael 6y ago
That reminds me of an article linked few months back about opium farming: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53450688 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53450688
- jhallenworld 6y ago
  A good cash crop unfortunately... To complete the picture, here is how you can drill the well in the first place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn7twImE2ug https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn7twImE2ug
  - bausano_michael 6y ago
    Thank you for the link. Satistying to watch tradition meet modernish equipment. Would you know how long does a tube well like this yield water? Do the farmers regularly deepen the drill or just find a new location?
    - jhallenworld 6y ago
      I don't know, but one thing occurs to me: those ponds the opium growers make are essentially batteries.
oa335 6y ago
Definitely a sea change happening. I’ve noticed a proliferation of “village life” YouTube channels from Pakistan... it seems that cheap solar power, cellular internet, and cheap smartphones is bringing a whole new class of people online and enriching their lives both materially and culturally.
- brazzy 6y ago
  Unfortunately, it also sometimes results in lynch mobs: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44856910 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44856910
  - yipbub 6y ago
    That article is about WhatsApp being used to coordinate a lynch mob in India (a villager suspected them of being kidnappers). Tragic, but not relevant
    - brazzy 6y ago
      It is absolutely relevant to the claim that "cellular internet, and cheap smartphones is bringing a whole new class of people online and enriching their lives both materially and culturally". Given that it's not at all a singular incident (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_WhatsApp_lynchings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_WhatsApp_lynchings) it seems pretty clear that this "enriching" is a decidedly mixed blessing.
aivisol 6y ago
Please help me with maths in the first video. The motor is 10 HP which is approx 7.5 kW powered by 18 x 320 W = 5760 W solar panels. Inverter and cable loss are not even accounted. How its gonna run on a cloudy day?
- Kliment 6y ago
  You don't have to run it at full power, and you run it when the sun shines.
Cthulhu_ 6y ago
I'll admit to not knowing anything about Pakistan, let alone rural Pakistan, but do they have a national power grid there? At least with solar, you own and control the power production yourself, and (in theory) there's no hidden costs. Meanwhile, I live in a country where on the one side they're pushing for and subsidizing solar energy, but at the same side they're forcing people to change their meters so that the energy companies can pay you less for power you feed back to the grid; with a 'dumb' meter, it was an even exchange, meaning that you only paid for the power you did not produce yourself. With the new system, you (I think?) only get 25% of the amount you sell, compared to the amount you pay.
- alex_duf 6y ago
  I think it's fair to assume the price of the energy you buy not only account for the price at generation, but also for all the services a grid provides: transport, reliability, variability of load etc. When it's bought back from you, they only pay for the generation part which makes sense in my opinion. Now where that price point is, I don't know! (25%? 50%? no idea) It seems the smart meter issue is almost unrelated though. Where I am (UK, potentially where you are too as it looks like a similar issue), the old feed-in tariff subsidised the energy _generated_ by a system, regardless of if you used the energy yourself or exported the energy. That's great to kick-start an economy but doesn't scale at a national level. I understand they are trying to push to pay for what is exported by houses only. I'm a bit sad to see the old subvention gone as it made solar panel uneconomical in lots of situations, and there's a lot to say about timing, but in principle I think it's sound reasoning.
- machiaweliczny 6y ago
  In Poland you can redeem 80% of what you contribute to grid, so if you have excess in summer you can use it in winter. I think it's quite good and demand is there from houseowners.
dkarp 6y ago
I really appreciate the practical engineering of that first video. Winding a stick to tighten the belt is the sort of elegant solution that I wouldn't have thought of

bausano_michael 6y ago

That reminds me of an article linked few months back about opium farming: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53450688 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53450688

jhallenworld 6y ago
A good cash crop unfortunately... To complete the picture, here is how you can drill the well in the first place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn7twImE2ug https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn7twImE2ug
- bausano_michael 6y ago
  Thank you for the link. Satistying to watch tradition meet modernish equipment. Would you know how long does a tube well like this yield water? Do the farmers regularly deepen the drill or just find a new location?
  - jhallenworld 6y ago
    I don't know, but one thing occurs to me: those ponds the opium growers make are essentially batteries.

oa335 6y ago

Definitely a sea change happening. I’ve noticed a proliferation of “village life” YouTube channels from Pakistan... it seems that cheap solar power, cellular internet, and cheap smartphones is bringing a whole new class of people online and enriching their lives both materially and culturally.

brazzy 6y ago
Unfortunately, it also sometimes results in lynch mobs: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44856910 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44856910
- yipbub 6y ago
  That article is about WhatsApp being used to coordinate a lynch mob in India (a villager suspected them of being kidnappers). Tragic, but not relevant
  - brazzy 6y ago
    It is absolutely relevant to the claim that "cellular internet, and cheap smartphones is bringing a whole new class of people online and enriching their lives both materially and culturally". Given that it's not at all a singular incident (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_WhatsApp_lynchings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_WhatsApp_lynchings) it seems pretty clear that this "enriching" is a decidedly mixed blessing.

aivisol 6y ago

Please help me with maths in the first video. The motor is 10 HP which is approx 7.5 kW powered by 18 x 320 W = 5760 W solar panels. Inverter and cable loss are not even accounted. How its gonna run on a cloudy day?

Kliment 6y ago
You don't have to run it at full power, and you run it when the sun shines.

Cthulhu_ 6y ago

I'll admit to not knowing anything about Pakistan, let alone rural Pakistan, but do they have a national power grid there? At least with solar, you own and control the power production yourself, and (in theory) there's no hidden costs. Meanwhile, I live in a country where on the one side they're pushing for and subsidizing solar energy, but at the same side they're forcing people to change their meters so that the energy companies can pay you less for power you feed back to the grid; with a 'dumb' meter, it was an even exchange, meaning that you only paid for the power you did not produce yourself. With the new system, you (I think?) only get 25% of the amount you sell, compared to the amount you pay.

alex_duf 6y ago
I think it's fair to assume the price of the energy you buy not only account for the price at generation, but also for all the services a grid provides: transport, reliability, variability of load etc. When it's bought back from you, they only pay for the generation part which makes sense in my opinion. Now where that price point is, I don't know! (25%? 50%? no idea) It seems the smart meter issue is almost unrelated though. Where I am (UK, potentially where you are too as it looks like a similar issue), the old feed-in tariff subsidised the energy _generated_ by a system, regardless of if you used the energy yourself or exported the energy. That's great to kick-start an economy but doesn't scale at a national level. I understand they are trying to push to pay for what is exported by houses only. I'm a bit sad to see the old subvention gone as it made solar panel uneconomical in lots of situations, and there's a lot to say about timing, but in principle I think it's sound reasoning.
machiaweliczny 6y ago
In Poland you can redeem 80% of what you contribute to grid, so if you have excess in summer you can use it in winter. I think it's quite good and demand is there from houseowners.

dkarp 6y ago

I really appreciate the practical engineering of that first video. Winding a stick to tighten the belt is the sort of elegant solution that I wouldn't have thought of