BENGALURU: In a bid to move towards sustainable energy, Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd (KIOCL) has partnered with CleanMax Solar, an Indian onsite solar power provider.
The rooftop solar plant installed with a capacity of 377.6 kWp is expected to reduce the company’s carbon dioxide emission by 524.4 tonnes per annum. According to company spokespersons, this would lead to a savings of Rs 6.5 lakh per year.
The rooftop solar plant has been set up across the rooftops of six buildings at KIOCL’s pelletisation plant in Mangaluru. The energy that has been generated through this solar plant will be for captive use and will supply solar power directly to KIOCL’s operations at the same plant, said Malay Chatterjee, CMD, KIOCL.
The company requires 6 lakh units of energy per day to meet its production requirement and the solar plant is now able to generate 1,100 units a day. By 2020, the company wants to reach a production of 4-5 MW to partially meet its energy requirement through solar energy, he added.
According to Andrew Hines, co-founder, CleanMax Solar, rooftop solar installations are picking up at a rapid pace and the Indian company is seeing two times growth annually.
“The main advantage is that there are not transmission costs and distribution losses. This makes an efficient and sustainable model,” said Hines. CleanMax had earlier installed rooftops for several educational institutions including NIT Surathkal.
KIOCL is a flagship Company under the Ministry of Steel, with Mini Ratna status. The annual capacity of the pellet plant is to produce about 3.5 million tonnes of iron ore pellets.