Category — Projects

OPS India has recently completed the prestigious solar power project at Governor house, Raj Bhavan, in Kolkata, West Bengal. Raj Bhavan Kolkata is the country’s first Governors residence to switch to solar power generation. India’s President Pratibha inaugurated the solar power system in December 2009.

West Bengal’s Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi (grandson of Mahatma Gandhi), The Minister for New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah, President Smt. Pratibha Patil and West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation MD Gon Chaudhuri joined together to turn on the solar power at Raj Bhavan, Kolkata. Dr. Farooq Abdullah also announced the governments allocation of Rs. One Crore ($220,000 USD) for all Governor houses in the country to introduce solar power generation.

Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi has been striving to build awareness of carbon emissions through green and energy efficient building initiatives. The introduction of solar power at Raj Bhavan is expected to reduce the buildings carbon emissions by 40%.  The first stage implementation of solar PV at Raj Bhavan is 10kW however by March 2010 a further 40kW will be added and connected to the grid. The final system will be about 110kW.

OPS India supplied the system design, products and power integration for the Raj Bhavan system.

“We will all pool our scientific, technical and managerial talents, with financial sources, to develop solar energy as a source of abundant energy to power our economy and to transform the lives of our people”
Dr. Manmohan Singh, PM India.

India’s largest pilot project of solar PV grid-connect is now online and a huge success!

OPS India (Optimal Power Synergy India) is in the final stages of its 3 megawatt grid connect project in Karnataka, India. OPS India has supplied the 3 megawatt project with all power conversion equipment and system integration. Whilst two thirds of the project is now fully operation and online, the final commissioning is set to occur in the next week.

This project will supply 3MW during daytime (11am to 5pm) to the state grid which will enable greater power capacity to meet the irrigation power supply demand. This pilot project is expected to facilitate future planned projects in the areas of Shikaripur taluk in Shimoga district and in Itnal village in Chikodi talu of Belgaum district. The Karnataka government is planning to launch a solar technology programme to over 3900 villages, estimated to meet the energy needs of 5.0 million people.

India will soon launch an ambitious plan to boost its solar power generation from 3 MW to 20,000 MW by 2022. The policy framework, known in official circles as “the National Solar Mission,” will address the high cost of manufacturing solar panels as well as the currently high price of solar power (in comparison to conventional coal power stations).

For more Flickr photos of this project please follow the photo links below.

NEW DELHI: In a step forward, the Solar Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change got an in-principle nod from the PM Manmohan Singh, with a target of 20,000MW (20GW) solar power generated by 2020 being accepted.

The Solar Mission is one of the seven missions proposed under the National Action Plan on Climate Change which was unveiled last year, promising India’s efforts to tackle climate change at the domestic level. The Solar Mission provides a detailed road map demonstrative of India’s serious intent to become a global leader in Solar Power within the next two decades.

The plan covers both grid and off-grid solar energy generation and distribution. In the first stage, the draft envisages generating 1-1.5 GW of solar power by 2012, 6-7 GW by 2017 and 20 GW (installed) by 2020. It calls for using 40-50 million sq metres of surface area in domestic, industrial and commercial areas.

The government aims to achieve it by providing incentives to cut the cost of development and deployment of solar panels. The aim is bring down the cost of solar energy from Rs15 to Rs4-5/ kWh from Rs3.5kWh base 2009 and achieve parity with coal by 2030 (Rs2kWh). The plan is expected to help offer lighting to 3 million households by 2012.

Parliamentary members stated that “While keeping an ‘ambitious’ target the solar mission should be built within an ‘enabling framework’ emerging from international negotiations, It would be important to demand technological and financial support from the international community under the UN negotiations, for such a huge target for clean energies due to the uncertainty of the costs.”

The plan calls for setting up a statutory solar authority under the ministry of new & renewable energy. It will have three verticals _ finance, technology & tariff, special project. The body will particularly focus on installation of solar collectors in hospitals, hotels and government buildings.

‘‘The solar mission can be India’s response to the global climate change logjam. It will make India’s position stronger in the negotiations. If India can do so much unilaterally, imagine what India can achieve if financing and clean technology support from rich countries come through. It’s the right answer at the opportune time,’’ says Siddharth Pathak, climate & energy campaigner, Greenpeace India.

The solar energy industry in India has undoubtedly gained momentum and should be able to keep pace with the government’s aim of achieving 10% of the country’s total electricity requirements by 2012. India already possesses a balanced eco-system for the PV industry, a high-tech manufacturing base and skilled labour sufficient to make it a booming industry. Annual PV production has already reached over 300 MW, with about 85% being exported.

Key facts about India’s 20GW Solar Power plans

The $19 billion “National Solar Mission” plan spread over 30 years aims to scale up solar power generation from nothing at present to 20 GW by 2020. The plan has a “near term” target of 100 megawatts, and 100 GW by 2030, or 10-12 percent of total power generation capacity estimated for that year.

Once implemented, the project will ensure large-scale deployment of solar generated power for both grid connected as well as distributed and decentralized off-grid provision of commercial energy services.

India says it could cut about 42 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions with its new solar plan. An estimated 20 million solar lights are estimated to save 1 billion litres of kerosene per annum by 2020.
Solar-powered equipment and applications will be mandatory for hospitals, hotels and government buildings, and villages and small towns will be encouraged with micro financing.

The plan also outlines a system of paying households for any surplus power from solar panels fed back into the grid. The target would be to provide access to lighting for 3 million households by 2012.

Optimal Power Solutions is negotiating its first project application in South East Asia of our newly developed product, the Macro Hybrid Power Conditioner.

The Macro HPC is an energy optimized large-scale hybrid system. It offers high power renewable energy connected to an automated multiple engine control system (MGCS).  It has a facility to schedule specialized loads through the use of a Station Control Module (SCM).

The MGCS synchronizes various generator sets to operate at peak capacity in parallel, whilst the SCM communicates with the power producing components of the renewable energy station and the Hybrid Inverter Module.

The SCM also controls the Inverter Module at the external PV farm to ensure that all PV power being exported is managed in the event that the battery bank is fully charged and the village load is being met at the time. Controllable loads can be initiated to ensure no excess renewable energy is wasted.

The first application of this newly designed OPS product will be a 1MW power plant in East Malaysia. The Macro HPC platform provides for a scaleable capacity of up to 10MW, in solar photovoltaic increments of 100kW or 250kW.

Optimal Power Solutions envisages a high take-up in future of the Macro HPC in the following applications:

• Remote & Island Village Communities
• Large-Scale Communications Towers
• Health-Care Facilities
• Governmental & Educational Institutions
• Remote Infrastructure
• Off-Grid Airports

3 megawatt solar PV system to be fully online by late 2009.

Optimal Power Synergy India Pty Ptd has signed an agreement to provide all power conversion and integration work for a 3 MW grid connect Solar PV project to be installed in Karnataka, India.

Karnataka has severe power supply issues due to a reliance on hydroelectric power generation coupled with lower monsoonal rainfall over the last few years. Hydroelectric generation capacity has diminished due to low dam levels. In response the Indian Government is interested in megawatt-sized PV systems at various locations in the countryside to improve power supply to villages and rural areas.

The 3MW Karnataka project is now under construction and the first megawatt will be online by late September 2009. The remaining PV power supply will be completed by November 2009.

27th May 2009

OPS India is playing a key role in India’s first multi megawatt solar grid connect power plant which being installed at the Disargarh Power Corporation (DPC) site in Jamuria district of West Bengal.

The 2 MW Solar PV grid connect power plant is being implemented by West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation ( WBGDCL ) for DPC.  This is the first time in India that a large solar grid connect project is being implemented with a feed in tariff for the energy being generated. The project site is just adjacent to a now defunct coal based thermal power station which makes this project all the more unique.

OPS India are supplying  250 KW Grid Export conditioner PCU’s manufactured in Kolkata, India. The project implementing agency, WBGDCL , has awarded the EPC contract for this project to Titan Solar, Hyderabad.

Project implementation is currently underway with the first MW of modules now being installed.  The power plant is being scheduled for commissioning by June 30th.

For more Flickr photos of this project please follow the photo links below.

Optimal Power provides the latest update for the Kalabakan power system. Delivery to site in East Sabah, Malaysia has been completed. Final commissioning and software setup of the station controller and automation aspects of the main AC board was completed by OPS engineers in Kuala Lumpur.

The main distribution board as shown in the photographs is 3,000 Amp rated at 415 Volts AC. The system integrates 260 kW of solar PV, 3 diesel engines, remote monitoring with automated control. The project is being undertaken for the national Utility TNB in conjunction with local partners Eramaz Technology.

The system is due to be commisoned and handed over by the end of May. For more information on this project please contact us

OPS began work in 2008 for the design supply and installation of renewable technology including a PV array, battery and inverter system in Lombok, Indonesia. The system was commissioned by Lombok’s local government with the initiative to supply Renewable Energy to the inhabitants living in the remote Kidang Village. The supply of Solar PV power services a village population of roughly 1000 people living in a spread out arrangement. The system has no diesel or grid, enabling 100% clean green and quiet energy to service the inhabitants.

OPS has just completed the project as of March 2009. Please click on the images below for better resolution.

Optimal Power Solutions has been chosen as key supplier of a new renewable energy technology system in Exuma, Bahamas. The site is a privately owned resort island of roughly 74 acres, in the picturesque Pipe Creek area of the Bahamas.

OPS are providing a highly advanced power station control and optimized energy delivery system. The system’s technical components include two OPS proprietary technology 300k Hybrid Power Conditioner Inverters with two dual channel 120kW MPPT chargers (Maximum Power Point Tracking).

One of the main benefits of the MPPT charge controllers is that they maximize the power from the PV array regardless of the battery or DC link voltage. MMPT systems are less commonly specified in such large systems, however investment in these systems is very sensible given the avoided investment in additional solar.

The system also includes a total of 240kWp of Photovoltaic Arrays, a whopping 360v battery bank rated with over 4MWh storage, three 312kVA gensets and eight 15kW wind turbines. This system has a total capacity of about 1.5 MW. The total system will be used to supply a community with a resort and several houses.

For future information on this and other projects under development visit our blogspot again soon!