The Hindu Business Line : Square Engg to make ‘sun cubes’ for power generation

Pune, March 7 Pune-based Square Engineering Pvt Ltd (SEPL) has set up a facility at Satara to manufacture sun cubes based on the hi-tech concentrator photovoltaic technology (CPV). This incorporates, for the first time ever, the use of space technology for terrestrial applications. Each of the cubes can produce three units of electricity per day.

SEPL will begin manufacturing the sun cubes under license from Australian renewable energy company Green and Gold Energy (GGE) by May.

The initial plan is to make 1 lakh units per annum that will translate into 30 MW of installed capacity.

This is being ramped up to 100 MW (3 lakh cubes per annum) by setting up a second greenfield plant at Satara that will become operational by December. The total investment in the project is Rs 80 crore, said Mr Deepak Kelkar, Managing Director, SEPL.

Each square metre sun cube is fitted with nine CPV cells supplied by the US-based Emcore Corporation (in India, the company is an exclusive supplier to the Indian Space Research Organisation) and a programmable two-axis tracking unit that helps it to attain 38 per cent conversion efficiency against 15 per cent in the traditional solar modules.

Cost-effective

“The system can generate electricity from the sun at the same price that a new fossil fuel generation plant can,” Mr Greg Watson, CEO, GGE said. He added that the cost of putting up a sun cube plant is one-tenth of that for conventional flat panels.

The cost of each cube comes to around Rs 60,000. “On a 20 year calculation, the cost of electricity is around Rs 3.80 per unit,” said Mr Kelkar.

Modular design

The modular design makes installation easy, and though interim losses make storage unviable for industrial purposes, standalone domestic units can store the electricity generated during the day in the inverter battery for use at night, he added.

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