Textile firm Arvind Ltd. is aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 30 per cent with the installation of rooftop solar projects across its facilities in cities like Ahmedabad, Santej and Bengaluru and by shifting from coal to renewable biomass for boilers.
The company is targetting on reducing 20,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually and over 500,000 tonnes of carbon emissions over its lifetime.
The firm has ramped up its three-phased installation and plans to target 40 MW captive solar capacity over time.
This is the largest installation of rooftop solar at a single location in India.
“We at Arvind are constantly looking for ways to be ‘fundamentally right’, to make sure our progress does not hinder other stakeholders in society, be it through water, cotton, chemicals or energy. The solar rooftops project is part of our renewable energy strategy which will reduce our carbon emissions significantly and we are working to make sure that each of our facilities and offices will one day run entirely on renewable energy. While we are already running the largest solar rooftop in the country, we will continue to challenge ourselves to further take our captive solar generation capacity to 40 MW,” said Punit Lalbhai, Executive Director, Arvind Ltd.
The firm’s current solar installation has been ranked as largest single site solar rooftop plant in India.
The project at Santej comprises over 46,000 solar modules and over 180 inverters. More than 20,000 man-days were spent in installing this landmark and over 40,000 square metre of old roofs were replaced to make way for this plant.
The solar rooftops project is one among the many sustainability-driven initiatives that the company is currently pioneering in the country.
Arvind initiated the first phase in 2016 with the installation of 4 MW of rooftop solar at its Ahmedabad and Bengaluru plants. The next phase started in February 2018 with the addition of 17 MW.
The third phase will include installation of solar plants on the ground and at locations close to facilities and this will take the total installed capacity to 40 MW.
