In the present time, the world is adapting renewable solar energy at a rapid rate. India is also emerging in this global arena as the second-largest country in terms of solar energy generation globally. In its efforts to move further towards sustainable energy, the Indian Government has set a target to achieve 175 GW of installed capacity of renewable solar power by the end of the year 2022.
Though large installations are accounted for 87% of the solar energy generation, adaptions of solar rooftop power plants are increasing day by day. The installed capacity of the solar rooftop power plant has increased from 117 MW to 1250 MW during the period between 2013 to 2016.
Solar energy, which doesn’t require any accumulated natural source, is an important source to power the laboratories, classrooms, canteens of schools across the country. Solar energy is heating the water, helping run the school canteens, managing all the lab works, shining auditoriums, assisting in administrative tasks, and illuminating street lights on school grounds. Due to bursting electricity bills and in the concern to protect the environment, many schools in India are switching to solar energy to meet their daily electricity needs.
Solar energy is a massive boost for Educational Institutes. Schools are very knowledgeable about the benefits of switching to solar power. It’s just a matter of figuring out the exact financing plan to make the installation happen.
The Indian schools will benefit from installing the solar rooftop power plant in all three possible ways; economically, educationally, and environmentally.
Firstly, we can say that in developing countries like India, where depending on only grid power can be difficult due to the uncertainty of power supply, a rooftop solar installation can be a huge turning point. And another plus point is it saves the extra produced electricity in the grid for future use, which helps to save energy and reduces the electricity bill as well. Even in load-shedding, it can supply the extra credits to avoid the interruption in the connection. It also gives nearly 25 years of reliability of non-stop service, which means the one-time investment will be a game-changer for the next 25 years, at least.
Teachers are provided with an incredible opportunity to teach concepts of solar energy and rooftop installation in science, engineering, and technology.
Setting up this solar rooftop power plant not only helps to prevent global warming but also plays a significant role in reducing the carbon emissions in the air, which makes this solar installation eco-friendly.
For example, we, the Sunshell Power, are going to tell about one of our projects, which was done in 2016. A 6 KWp on-grid rooftop solar plant was installed in a school named Saradeswari Kanya Vidyapith, situated in Hoogly in July 2016. Sunshell Power took up the engineering, procurement, and construction of the 6 KWp rooftop solar power plant installation. The primary motive was to complete the project with special care and service. This solar rooftop project was planted in a single premise, on the terrace of the school building, in a single phase, which generates almost 8100 units of electricity annually.
Technical Details
The rooftop solar power plant comes with equipment named PV modules, PV array, junction boxes, wires, an on-grid inverter, sensors and instruments, and a tracker.
- We provide extra protection in the installations with proper safety gear, which means we always maintain all of the safety norms during installation. Our first priority is human safety, and the second one is electrical protection. The Sunshell Power never compromises with the safety facts for cost-cutting. This ensures the longevity of the plant even during thunderstorms.
- We provide multilayer protection on both sides of the inverter (both AC and DC side), which makes our solar rooftop plants more reliable.
- Sunshell Power provided the hot-dip galvanized structured PV array, which ensures longevity and proper corrosion protection. Another aspect of hot-dip galvanizing is proven, unmatched durability, even in harsh conditions.
Quality
Maintaining standards is of the utmost importance when the minimum serviceable life of the installations is 25 years. To achieve this, the materials and the equipment used in the rooftop project were standardized at the initial stage itself. A working prototype was first developed and executed; based on its success, the final implementation was carried out.
Operating Efficiency
- This plant has saved a considerable amount of surplus energy during this lockdown period. Still, the saving is continuing itself, which would keep the electricity bills down for at least the next 6 months after the lockdown ends. (Surplus Energy – “Energy generated that is beyond the immediate needs of the producing system. This energy may be supplied by spinning reserve and sold on an interruptible basis.”)
- This rooftop project is continuously in service for the past four years without any interruption. The total downtime of this solar rooftop power plant is zero during the last four years, which is an excellent record itself. So it is proven that the Sunshell power never compromises with the quality of the products they provide. Also, it has proper monitoring and maintenance systems, which did not let the plan down even for a moment in the past few years.
- The use of safety gear and all the necessary protections made the solar rooftop power plant user friendly, which is one of the primary motives of Sunshell Power.
The hot-dip galvanizing structured array gave this plant unmatched durability to survive all kinds of harsh weather conditions. Even this plant survived the most dangerous cyclone “Amphan” without any interruption.
Benefits
- Proper utilization of roof space of the school building.
- The power generally produces during the vacation period saves in the grid for future uses, which eventually saves the energy cost and the electricity bills.
- This rooftop power plant produces 8100 units of electricity annually, and this power plant cumulatively offset nearly 7.6 tons of carbon emissions every year, which is equivalent to 350 trees plantation.
- SunShell Power has used proven technology and best-in-class equipment to ensure the longevity of the rooftop solar power plant. The solar modules come with 25 years of warranty and reliability of proper protections and safety norms backed by Sunshell Power.
- This project has saved the annual sum worth 31,000 rs (previous annual electricity bill).
- Also, the added features like the proper monitoring system and safety gears with proper protection, developed by SunShell, make this company one of the top companies in India. This plant reduces pollution and is eco-friendly to be availed.
- This project has also raised awareness about Global Warming among the students, which is proven to be beneficial for the entire villagers. In Smt. Putul Roy’s words “from pollution to the economy it will be saving us from every aspect.”
Difficulties related to electricity bills occur so often. The amount of electricity bill increases much higher than the average randomly. But this one-time investment for the rooftop solar power plant is the cure-all of all these problems.
Sunshell Power team is glad to bring up one more energy-efficient school in West Bengal running through solar energy.
For further details, you can watch our project related video:
