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Confused how to go about setting up a solar rooftop unit atop your house?
No worries, an innovative Plug and Play One Box rooftop solar do it yourself solution is coming your way thanks to outcome of an Indo-German research initiative.
The product that can be easy to install will come with 2 kWh capacity, with and without battery back up with facilities that could be added on at a later stage, according to Abhinav Jain, Advisor, Indo-German Energy Programme.
This is a product of a collaborative research between Germany and the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and will soon be tendered out by Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) for mass production. It comes with both battery backup and without.
PV Port & Store is a standardised, portable mass produced 2kWp PV system with electrical storage for residential applications designed by GIZ-Deutsche Gesellschaft fur international Zusammenarbeit on behalf of the Ministry.
The product will soon be showcased at the Renew Expo to be hosted in Hyderabad later this month. The government proposes to offer developers to produce the product for mass consumption. Soon tenders are likely to be floated by SECI, Jain told BusinessLine .
Explaining the features of the production-ready product, Jain said that it comes in 2 kWh configuration with battery back up and a 15 amp plug in facility. It is packed with batteries, which could either be lithium ion or lead acid ones, depending upon the choice and affordability.
The interesting aspect of the product is it does not need any third party experts to install. One can do it at home without any help. Significantly, it has a self-ballasting structure and does not need any punctures/concreting on the roof for the installations. It comes with roto moulded pre-assembled bench that contain all the electronics, inverter and batteries in a cavity surrounded by water. The unit does not export power to the grid. During power outages, it supplies through the battery backup.
The retail cost
The retail cost of the systems could vary depending on the choice of type of battery lithium ion or lead acid. The cost currently expected at about ₹1-1.5 lakh a unit has the potential to be brought down once tendered out and production catches up, Jain explains.
In the current system, one has to find a third party company to install a solar PV system. This product makes it easy wherein within just about three to four hours the entire system could be operationalised and start generating power and supplies.
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