Kadodiya Solar Park – An Idea 2

Kadodiya solar park is the crown jewel of Vivaan Solar, a solar power company headquartered in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh India. The plan to set up kadodiya solar park with the objective to utilize the ‘clean’ and ‘green’ solar power to generate electricity, was mooted in minds of two friends Amit Bansal and Mudit Garg, both directors at Vivaan Solar in the month of August 2012. The idea was to sell electricity to willing customers at a cost that was considerably lower as compared to the existing power rates charged to customers by various discoms, much of it generated using coal as primary source of power in thermal power plants, a potentially hazardous and polluting source of power.

The Kadodiya Solar Park was established by Vivaan Solar to make full use of the beneficial policies resulting out of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (also known as the National Solar Mission) The National Solar Mission which aims promote ecologically sustainable growth using solar power and address India’s growing energy demands, as well as counter the effects of climate change on a global scale. Today, the Indian Government has made many policy implementation and there is strong will to work in producing energy from renewable sources.

Scouting for Location

After the idea was floated to set up a solar park, scouting for a suitable location was started, that has ample sunlight, is not disturbed by too much air pollution, and above all is barren. As a result of search conducted, a location was identified in Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh. The lowest category of barren stretch of wasteland was selected because of its proximity to the Tropic of Cancer that almost cuts India in 2 halves. It may be noted that Tropic of Cancer, that lies at 23.50 degree north latitude was found cutting through the area, as such it was considered that the location chosen was ideal to set up the solar park for solar irradiation.

Establishment of Kadodiya Solar Park

Kadodiya Solar Park was established over barren stretch of land totalling 250 acres that was bought from villagers of the area. Out of these at the moment 100 acres of land has been put to use for setting up 2 segments of the solar park. One segment generates 15 MW of power and has been operationalised and generating power that is fed into the state grid. The second segment of 30 MW is in the process of being fully operationalised with 20 MW currently in use, while the remaining 10 MW are set to be operationalised by March 2017 that will take the total solar power generated from Kadodidya Solar Park to 45 MW in total.

Work on the Kadodiya Solar Park was started on October 1st 2012 with fencing of the land, followed by the establishment of 1st of the 3 solar projects of 1 MW capacity each in November 2012. By 17th May 2013 the 2nd plant in the park was setup that each catered to a particular client. Another plant was setup on 31st March 2014, and the last plant in the 2nd segment was commissioned on September 30th 2015.

In order to setup Kadodiya Solar Park, Vivaan Solar has made use of two types of solar photovoltaic panels. The solar panels are of polycrystalline and thin film varieties with each rectangular module’s capacity ranging from 92.5wp to 315wp. The solar photovoltaic panels have been sourced from well known manufacturers of solar panels namely from countries like Japan, Malaysia and China.

In setting up of Kadodiya Solar Park, a total of 20 invertors sourced from Toshiba Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial Systems Corporation & others in the 1st segment of 15 MW. Another 33 inverters are to be used in the 2nd segment of the park till the time the entire 30 MW set up goes online with the state grid. In all a total of 1.5 lakh solar panels have been installed in the 1st segment of 15 MW and a total of 2 lakh solar panels are expected to be used in the 2nd segment of 30 MW in the Kadodiya Solar Park.

Clients of Kadodiya Solar Park

In setting up of Kadodiya solar park, it was necessary for Vivaan Solar to ensure a list of clientele who would be buying the clean energy generated at Kadodiya solar park. As such Vivaan Solar follows a formula of setting up/extending the solar park segment once it is confirmed that a prospective client is willing to buy the power from Kadodiya Solar Park. This pattern has since been followed as it keeps the inventories under control.

Kadodiya Solar Park has been selling its solar power to clients including industries, malls, and hospitals. The prominent clients of Kadodiya solar park include the municipality of Tarana town in Madhya Pradesh, Godrej Unit – Malanpur, Banmor, Vectus as well as the Deen Dayal mall and Hotel Usha Kiran Palace in Gwalior. The solar power generated from the Karodiya solar park is also used to meet the power requirement of ITM University, Gwalior. On an average each customer of Karodiya Solar Park derives power in the range of 650 KW to 3.5 MW per month

Innovations Applied at the Karodiya Solar Park

Vivaan Solar while setting up the Kadodiya solar park has made sure that maximum utilization of natural resources is done. As per the plan for eco-friendly innovations that was stitched up by Vivaan Solar, 2 purpose built check dams or reservoirs in the park were setup. These check dams collect rain water using the process of rain water harvesting; which is utilized for cleaning of the installed photovoltaic panels for the entire year. It is the best way to utilize every drop of water in the barren stretch of land where water is scarce. It may be recalled that during rainy days rain water just flows down the terrain, so this idea of stopping water inside the park itself was considered the best option to reduce costs.

The duely harvested rain water is also meant to be used for farming of Jatropha plant under organic farming project at the periphery fence of Kadodiya Solar park. Once the harvested water is used for cleaning the solar panels, it is directed towards the Jatropha plants. It may be known that Jatropha or Jatropha curcas or Barbados Nut is a plant that grows well in semi-arid/arid/wasteland regions. The seeds of the plant contain’ oil that can be used effectively as biodiesel; thus giving an option for alternative source of energy and revenue for Vivaan Solar. Extending the organic farming project at Kadodiya solar park, Vivaan Solar now intends to start Aloe Vera farming near the solar park to generate additional revenues on the sidelines.

Future Prospects for Karodiya Solar Park

Vivaan Solar is planning to add another 30 MW plant (Zone 3) in Kadodiya Solar Park. The generated electricity will be sold to many commercial establishments of Gwalior, Indore and Bhopal.