MALANKARA PLANTATIONS, KOTTAYAM

• Malankara Plantations Limited is spread across a very large land area with its
Administrative Office in Kottayam, Kerala.
• The Office Complex is an 86-year old heritage building, mainly built of wood with
tiled roof on wooden rafters.
• The old structure is historically registered under classification “Heritage” in India
and its preservation is mandated by the state.

Existing Power Consumption

• The power consumption of the Office Complex consists of 18 tons of air-
conditioning, followed by water pumps, three packing machines, IT/networking
and lightings.
• Although the Complex was connected to grid, it suffered from frequent blackouts
due to power shortages on the electrical grid. This forced the company to relay on
increased diesel generator operations.
• The plantation located in a tropical region where temperatures ranged from 28°C
to 32°C. 90% of the energy load occurred during the day, and the tariff cost of
electricity projected to increase by 6.5% in addition to the cost of diesel fuel which
stood to increase 50% over the past five years.
Proposed RE Solution
• In order to reduce the increasing cost of both diesel generators and grid as
well as mitigate its carbon footprint, the Management sought the expertise of
TS to explore the possibilities of implementing Renewable Energy as an
alternative option.
• TS undertook a detailed survey of the site and successfully implemented a
25kW Off-Grid SPV Power Plant which powered all the Energy requirements
of the Office Complex, including 18 tons of Air-conditioning, Computers,
printers, lightings, fans, ventilation, office equipment, water pumps and
packing machines.
SPV System Components
The Main components of 25kW system consisted of
• Solar Modules
• Mounting Structure
• 9 OutBack GVX inverters
• 7 FLEXmax Charge Controllers
• 2 MATE3 communication devices
• Battery Bank
The system ensures uninterrupted power, offers an energy cost savings payback
of less than five years
Performance

The successful implementation of the project by TS turned the Heritage Building

Complex of Malanakara Plantations into the First Net Zero Office Complex of India
as it was disconnected from the Gird and functioned Off-Grid wholly on its own
self-generated Solar Power.
Array Capacity : 25 kW
Inverter : 27 kW
Battery Bank : 2040 Ah @ 48V

Project Yield

Earlier a 30 kVA Diesel Generator set was used for backup power supply for
approximately 5 hours in a day. It was operational for 260 days a year consuming
approx. 7800 litres of diesel.
The project benefited from carbon financing, meeting the energy security needs,
and preventing the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by reducing
DG operations to almost nil.
It reduced up to 47 tons of carbon emissions per year, saving an estimated 97% in
diesel fuel consumption.
Project Challenges

TS came across challenges in the way of successful execution of the project. A few
of challenges being faced by TS during the process of project implementation were
High energy consumption, Space constrain, Keeping the heritage structure intact
and Local weather conditions.
By its long experience and expertise TS overcame all the challenges by pioneering
the most appropriate designs and engineering soluitons as required for the project.

High Energy Consumption

As a first step, TS conducted a detailed Energy Audit and addressed the cause of
high energy consumption by replacing inefficient devices and incorporating
energy management measures.
TS was thus able to reduce the existing energy consumption by 50% which, in
turn, helped reduce the array capacity.
Local Weather Condition

To address the cloudy and rainy days, TS adopted the technology of A-si thin film
modules which perform even under low light and cloudy conditions.
It helped ensure the required generation of power even during the heavily cloudy
and rainy days.
The array capacity was designed for the worst days of the year considering the 15-
year climatic data of the region.

Heritage Structure
Being a heritage building, the structure posed a challenge as it could not be
altered in any way.
To overcome this barrier, TS designed and engineered a Space Frame
structure to mount the solar modules 9 Meters above the ground (Courtyard).
The space frame structure supported by four columns each occupying merely
2 sqm of foot print at the corners allowed access and usage of the courtyard
as before.
The structure provided shade to the Courtyard as well as a Rain Water
Harvesting system for the building.