Commercial buildings and hotels consume a lot of electricity and fossil-fuel-based energy systems to provide high-quality services to their customers. DG sets are widely used as a power backup solution in most commercial buildings and campuses to provide an uninterrupted power supply. A DG set is an electricity-producing combination of a diesel engine and an electric generator. The amount of diesel consumed is proportional to the size of the DG and the number of hours it operates. Each building determines the size/capacity and number of DG sets based on the critical loads to be served during power outages and the average duration of power outages in the area. The DG sets are used as a backup during power outages, and some buildings have now installed solar PV integrated with DG sets.
The pollution issue with DG sets
DG sets emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM 10) in addition to causing noise pollution. DG sets emit harmful particles into the atmosphere, significantly reducing air quality in the surrounding area. Each liter of fuel burned in a DG set produces 0.73 kg pure carbon and 2.6 kg CO2. Consider a 500kVA DG set that consumes approximately 100 liters of diesel per hour and is run for 5 hours per day for a month, releasing 39,000 kg of carbon dioxide.
An Indian start-up created the best replacement DG set – Energy Storage Systems/ESS
Indian start-up Su-vastika Solar has launched ESS Energy Storage Systems of variable capacities ranging from 10 KVA to 250 KVA, which can be put in series to increase the capacity size, say 5 units of 100 KVA can produce 500 KVA size ESS and the same way 4 no of 250 KVA capacity can produce 1MW of power.
Since these units are run on Lithium batteries so the backup time can be increased through the sizing of the battery bank. If we need more back in time, we can increase the battery bank size accordingly.
Since the battery bank is Lithium LIFEPO4 technology which has seen results of more than the last decade very successfully, it is safe and can be expected of a life cycle that no other battery technology has proven for more than a decade of usage.
As the power cuts have reduced in Indian cities drastically over the last 5 years, the general usage requires 2 hours of continuous backup time. As the ESS gets charged quickly, it can keep giving you backup and charging, so it can give 4 to 6 hours of backup in case of power failure at different time periods.
The DG sets are old technology, a lot of pollution is generated, and you need to store the fuel for a few days, which requires extra storage and precautions as well. At the same time, the ESS can be charged through the grid or solar system. So, the running cost of ESS is almost one-fourth of the DG set.
Getting diesel and storing it, which is a big challenge for the user, is also avoided. The initial investment in ESS is higher compared to the DG, but in totality, the user gets benefited in terms of money saving over the long run, as the ESS batteries are run for 7 to 10 years of life, depending on the usage of the ESS on a particular location.
The ESS starts making money for the user in case solar panels are installed for charging as it starts feeding the power into the grid in case the power cuts are not taking place. Solar is available at that particular time, as in India, we get solar power more than 300 days out of 360 days. So we are putting in a power generator which produces free power from solar panels whose life is 25 years. Solar storage is the real power that can be used purposefully in any condition.
About Su-vastika Solar.
Su-vastika solar is a company founded by Khushboo Sachdev with a strong team of experienced engineers who have been there to work in the same field. Mr. Kunwer Sachdev, who is the founder of the brand Su-Kam, is the mentor and the real force behind the innovation in the start-up. The future of India is solar storage and Electric Vehicles, for which this start-up is working hard to bring Indian technology to the forefront, which is specially made for Indian conditions and can withstand Indian heat, dust, and power conditions.
