ABB commissions India’s first industrial solar microgrid

May 14, 2018 2:19 pm

ABB inaugurated an innovative microgrid solution at its Vadodora manufacturing facility in Gujarat, India. This is the company’s largest facility in India, with over 3,000 employees and among ABB’s biggest manufacturing hubs in the world.

The microgrid is the first of its kind to be installed at a manufacturing campus in India, and will harness the area’s abundant solar energy supply to help the expanding factory meet its growing electricity needs, while lowering its carbon footprint.

The microgrid’s rooftop photovoltaic field and its innovative battery-energy storage system will support the factory’s productivity and enable green power supplies in the evening hours or during cloudy periods during the day. A sophisticated ABB Ability control and automation system, serves as the brain of the microgrid, ensuring the maximising the use of renewable energy. The use of renewables will lower the facility’s carbon footprint by approximately 1,400 tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Microgrids with integrated battery energy storage offer industrial and business establishments a viable solution to mitigate planned and unplanned power outages that negatively affect their operations. When connected to renewable energy sources they also provide clean energy, often replacing fossil fuels. Furthermore, they provide more control to the business on how and when to deploy the stored power. A key benefit is the reduction in overall operational costs and reduced spend on electricity bills.