Daily power outages lasting several hours are commonplace in India’s federal state Tamil Nadu. For this reason, cotton mill Alpine Knits located in Palladam, had been using diesel gensets to ensure a reliable power supply for their production site – and simply accepted the exorbitant operation expenses resulting from the fuel consumption of the gensets.
To reduce their energy bill, the cotton mill operators decided to install a PV system on the rooftop of their factory workshop – which started producing inexpensive energy in June 2013. With the SMA Fuel Save Solution, the PV system and local diesel gensets are combined to work as a PV diesel hybrid system that operates reliably even when the grid fails.
As the intelligent interface between PV system and diesel gensets, the Fuel Save Controller ensures a highly available and efficient power supply. During peak production hours, the PV system provides approximately 60 percent of the total power demand of the mill – regardless of utility grid availability – a big step towards minimizing fuel costs and CO2 emissions.
System Size
Genset: 1 x 1250 kVA, Genset Powerica Limited
Installed PV power: 1 MWp
Modules: CanadianSolar CS6P-240P
System Information
Location: Palladam, Indien
Operator: Alpine Knits
Planning and implementation: Chemtrols Solar Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai
Commissioning: June 2013
Annual Yields
Solar irradiation: 1.562 kWh/kWp
Solar yield: 1.320 MWh
PV System Technology
Fuel Save Controller: 1 x Interface Module, 2 x Data Aquisition Module, 1 x PV Main Controller Module
44 x Sunny Tripower 20000TLEE