Maruti Suzuki to harness Solar Power in car manufacturing plants

Maruti Suzuki India Limited has laid the foundation stone for a 5 MW Solar Power plant at its Gurugram facility.  The company will contribute to the environment, and has taken an important step to harness the clean renewable source of energy in the form of solar power. The solar energy plant will be employed in the Fiscal Year 2019-20.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) already has a solar power plant set up at its Manesar facility, back in 2014, and upon installation, it had the capability of 1 MW which was later expanded to 1.3 MW. MSIL will invest INR 240 million in this plant and it will be the second grid-based solar power plant which will compensate for over 5390 tonnes of CO2 (carbon Dioxide) emissions per year, for the next 25 years.

The Gurugram facility will use the power generated from the solar power plant, in synchronisation with the captive power plant, to provide the internal energy demands. The solar cells (photovoltaic panels) are arranged on the roof of the carport structure (parking area), which will serve a dual purpose, as the cars underneath will be protected from the weather, and the solar panels will generate clean energy.

Maruti Suzuki also employs the following environmentally friendly and energy saving initiatives at its facilities.

1. The Rohtak R&D facility and the Gurugram plant are installed with LED street lighting and solar rooftop plants.
2. The Rohtak facility is equipped with variable refrigerant flow air-conditioners.
3. The air combustion has been optimized in the gas turbines at the Gurugram plant to improve efficiency
4. The number of transformers and their capacity has been optimized to reduce power loss at the Gurugram plant
5. The chiller water circulation pumps, UF, RO spray pumps and air compressors have been installed with a variable frequency drive at the Manesar plant to reduce energy consumption.
6. Energy efficient drives and pumps have been installed in the dough kneader machine at Gurugram and pump at Manesar respectively.
7. LED lighting is being used to improve energy efficiency at Gurugram, Manesar and the Rohtak R&D centre.

The Manesar B plant which was commissioned in September 2011 has been running on 100% LED and is the first car plant in India to do so.