In India the Healthcare sector is one of the fastest growing entities and Hospitals are the backbone of thehealthcare sector. The addition of the latest equipment and continuous operations require an uninterrupted power supply for suitable functioning, which leads to large energy bills. Hospitals also require standby electricity generators to ensure a continuous supply of power at all times. Most private hospitals today face energy costs that continue to rise, creating a very difficult challenge to manage the facilities’ operational budget.
MVJ Research Hospital one of the leading multi-specialty research hospitals in Bangalore reached out to us with a requirement for a rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) system for their facility in Hoskote, Bangalore. The hospital management shared the following inputs,
· With the addition of new state-of-the-art equipment and a large number of beds energy bills are on the rise.
· The hospital faces a lot of intermittent power supply from the state grid during the day, leading to excessive usage of the diesel generator.
· The hospital has always been progressive and wants to have a green footprint by adopting clean energy and also reducing its energy costs.
Based on the above inputs, U-Solar’s team designed a customized solution to meet their requirement based on available rooftop space, load details and DG loading. The hospital’s primary load requirement during the day is the medical equipment followed by the lighting load. The hospital also faces power cuts of 4-6 hrs depending on the season.
A 200 kW grid-connected rooftop solar PV system that synchronizes with the grid & diesel generator was designed for captive consumption. The total energy yield expected from the system is approximately 3, 30, 000/year. The system is expected to offer a ~30% reduction in the energy bills for the hospital, with savings expected to be ~22 lakhs/year in energy bills (EB+DG).
The hospital has installed the rooftop solar PV system in a phased manner. The first 100 kW grid-connected system was commissioned in July-2014 and has generated ~1.1 Lakh Units to date. The second 100 kW grid connected system has been commissioned on March 2015. The estimated payback period for the project is ~5 years.
The 200 kW grid-connected system has been installed with ~834 modules of 240 Wp indigenously manufactured polycrystalline solar modules having an efficiency of 14.9%. High-efficiency grid-connected string-based inverters of 24 numbers having a 9.6 KVA rating from one the world leaders in on-grid inverters have been installed. The inverters have been pre-programmed to give solar priority. Protection for the system has been provided on both the DC and AC sides with surge protectors, lighting arrestors & earth pits for the smooth operation. Both systems have been connected to the online-monitoring facility and also have analog meters at the site to check for a generation.