Indian companies continue to push for innovation with an endeavor to meet the highly ambitious renewable energy target set by the government. The conducive policy and regulatory regime for the development of renewable energy in the country has reaped the first solar-powered carport.
Tata Power, one of India’s largest integrated power companies, has announced the commissioning of a rooftop solar project at a carport in a commercial mall located in North Delhi. The project will be executed jointly by Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL), and Tata Power Solar.
The 300 kilowatt project is a first-of-its-kind solar rooftop project to be implemented on a carport. The project will be built over a roof of 70,000 square meters and is expected to generate 4,20,000 units of green energy annually, meeting 80% of the mall’s electricity demand, while reducing the carbon footprint of around 438 metric tons (MT) every year.
The project is envisaged under the net metering scheme, which enables the mall to generate electricity for captive use and excess energy can be sent back to the grid, thereby ensuring self-reliance in the energy consumption and production cycle.
The plant will help the mall to save Rs 50 lakh ($77,580) annually on electricity bills and Rs 12 crore ($1.86 million) over the entire plant life. This initiative is in line with India’s ambitious National Solar Mission which aims to generate 40 gigawatts through rooftop solar by 2022.
The launch of this carport plant aims to encourage the adoption of solar power among commercial consumers having large rooftop spaces for installation. The solar-powered carport also opens the possibility of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Delhi is expected to see a sudden surge in electric vehicles over the next few months as the government starts to receive the first of the 10,000 electric sedans it ordered recently.
Source: cleantechnica.com
