Indian university to operate solar microgrid pilots

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, a public engineering school, has revealed plans to install and operate three solar+storage microgrid pilots on its campus in northern India.

The university — located in the city of Kanpur — will set up two of the pilot projects on its campus and one near two small villages in Uttar Pradesh. One of the on-campus pilots will feature a 200 kWp solar array, backed by 200 kWh of battery storage and two electric vehicle charging stations. The other pilot installation on the campus will feature 25 kWp of solar, along with a 100 kW hybrid inverter and a 50 kWh lithium-ion storage system.

IIT Kanpur will set up a third microgrid pilot project with Uttar Pradesh Power Corp. Ltd. to cover two villages, Bargadiya Purwa and Chhaba Niwada, that are located about 45 km north of the campus. The installations will include 100 kWp of PV, about 30 kW of biomass capacity and 200 kWh of lithium-ion storage capacity. As part of this project, each village will have a separate microgrid.

The university will monitor and operate the microgrids from a control center on the IIT Kanpur campus. Synergy Systems and Solutions has supplied the facility with a SCADA system, backed by advanced metering infrastructure provided by Mindteck, an IT services provider based in Bangalore.

To be eligible, bidders should be able to supply, install and commission the microgrid pilots. Non-Indian bidders are expected to have a representative or branch office in India.