ILIOS Power won the Best Engineered Project award at the Solar Awards 2021 in the recently-held Mercom India Solar Summit 2021.

The project was developed for its client, Kallam Textiles, at Ongole in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh.

The project was commissioned on July 23, 2020.

There were seven award categories in the Mercom India Solar Awards 2021, and winners were chosen based on project innovation, challenges overcome, uniqueness, and impact on the community, economy, and the environment.

The award was received by Naveen Vunnam, CEO, ILIOS Power.

He said, “The client was focused on getting maximum generation for the factory. We increased the albedo from 25-50% and optimized the ground coverage ratio at 66.7% to get the best output from the bifacial project.”

Commenting on giving shape to the project during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, “We are glad we could employ the local labor force during a difficult time. When everyone was scared to step out due to the pandemic, we mobilized and moved the teams by keeping the medical team available 24/7 at the site and completed the project in just 60 days.”

For a capacity of 1.27 MW, the winning project used the latest mono passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) half-cut cells and bifacial modules. A lot of effort was put in to maximize the reflected sunlight from the ground on the bifacial module’s rear side to increase the albedo by 25%.

A reflective floor solution using baby chips (6 mm gravel) was used to mitigate the problem of weed-covered ground. The mechanism helped in increasing the albedo and preventing the growth of weed.

The module mounting structure was designed to avoid casting any constant shadow behind the module during the energy generation hours. The process aided in avoiding hotspots that could affect the longevity of the module.

The structures used were galvanized in 90-120 microns of hot dips to ensure their durability in a corrosive environment considering the proximity of the site from the sea (60 km).

The structure was given a seasonal tilt (5 degrees and 24 degrees) to provide an additional energy yield of 2.5-3% over a fixed-tilt structure.

In the past six months of the plant’s installation, a maximum generation of 8,158 kWh, i.e., 6.42 kWh/kWp, was achieved with a capacity utilization factor (CUF) of 33.99%. Additionally, a performance ratio (PR) of 84.8% was also absorbed.

The project is expected to serve as a case study to evaluate large-scale projects in levelized cost of energy (LCOE).

Longi Solar and Sungrow supplied the modules and inverters for the project, respectively.