SOLARPOWER

Case Study: Arun Solar Concentrator System at Mahanand & Chitale Dairy
CLIQUE SOLAR

Clique Solar, a channel partner for MNRE, has has indigenously developed and successfully commercialised the ARUN dish a Fresnel Paraboloid Solar concentrator system with applications in industrual process heating, comfort cooling, community cooking and in commercial and residential complexes.

he rst ARUN system was installed in Mahanand Dairy in Latur, Maharashtra in 2006. This system continues to save about 100 to 115 litres of Furnace Oil on a clear sunny day, completely avoiding the ring of the conventional boiler. In all 12 dishes of Arun (169 sq.m each) save an equivalent of about 1500 barrels of oil per day. Case Study ARUN installations in Dairy Industry After studying the various requirements and constraints of the dairy industry, and

understanding how these can be technologically and economically met by harnessing solar energy, Clique Solar concluded that the use of solar thermal concentrating systems for all their thermal requirements is most suitable. The steam or pressurised hot water generated by the ARUN dishes is used in the following processes: Pasteurization (160C to 180C) Milk Powder Can Washing (40C to 45C) Cleaning in Place (40C to 45C) Crate washing (40C to 45C) Sterilization (120C to 160C)

ARUN Installation ARUN InSTaLLaTIOn aT B.G. CHITaLE, SangLI - A two-dish ARUN system at Chitale Dairy in Sangli generates steam which is used for Pasteurization, Can washing, cleaning in Place (CIP) and Crate washing. Both these ARUN dishes are installed on the terrace of its 3-storeyed building. The footprint area is less than 3m x 3m per dish. The civil engineering and integration challenges were innovatively handled by Clique Solars mutli-faceted engineering team. The ARUN dish tracks the sun on two axes. Water circulates through the receiver coil

Location Application Delivery Capacity Dish numbers Aperture Area

Sangli, Maharashtra Steam generation for Milk processing Up to 5 bar and 152C 80-100 kWth per dish 2 dishes 169X2 = 338 m2

Location Application Delivery Capacity Dish numbers Aperture Area

Latur, Maharashtra Pressurized Hot water for Milk processing Up to 18 bar and 180C 80-100 kWth per dish 1 dish 160m2

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Investment in ARUN system Capital Subsidy Loan Annual Fuel Savings (derated) O&M expense Debt Repayment Interest Expense @ 15% Tax saved due to Accelerated Depreciation Net Eqyuity Cash Flow

Year 0 -50 10 28 10.9 -1.1

Year 1 9.0 0.0 -5.6 -4.2 2.2 1.4

Year 2 9.9 -1.0 -5.6 -3.4 0.4 0.4

Year 3 10.9 -1.1 -5.6 -2.5 0.1 1.8

Year 4 12.0 -1.2 -5.6 -1.7 0.0 3.5

Year 5 13.2 -1.3 -5.6 -0.8 0.0 5.4

Year 6 14.5 -1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 13.0

Year 7 15.9 -1.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 14.3

Year 25

which is placed at the focus of dish transferring the thermal energy from the sun to the circulating water and converting it to pressurized steam up to 152C & 5 bar. ARUN InSTaLLaTIOn aT MaHananD DaIrY - At Mahanand dairy, a single dish is operational for hot water generation for milk pasteurization. The system pressure and temperature is 18 bar and 180C respectively. Due to a mismatch in the working hours of the plant and availability of sun, an insulated pressurized water storage tank with capacity of 5000 liters has been provided for non-solar hours operation. Pressurized water was selected as the medium of heat transfer and storage as it has high specic heat, no re hazards, no possibility of accelerated oxidization overnight (as in case of tarring of thermic oil), compatibility with food products and low operational cost. Flow of operation (case study of Chitale Dairy installation) Construction and Operation: Solar Steam Generation system has been integrated such that the steam separator acts as both steam accumulator and buffer water storage. At the start of the day, circulating pump extracts water from steam separator vessel & circulates it through receiver coil. The water is then converted to wet steam. Thus both, the temperature and pressure, of the uid in the separator begin to rise The steam delivery starts from the top of steam separator as soon as the required steam delivery pressure (5 bar, 152C) is achieved. The dry saturated steam delivered by the system is collected in the common header for milk processing & other application. At Mahanad dairy, a pressurized hot water based system at 18 bar, 180C has
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Flow of operation.

been designed to accommodate thermal storage requirement. Economics From an economic perspective, solar systems are similar to infrastructure projects which are characterized by long life, high capital cost and low running expenses. As such, the Life cycle cost of the system, or parameters like Net Present Value (NPV) or Internal Rate of Return (IRR) should be used to evaluate the investment in such systems. A typical cash ow of an ARUN project has been presented in the table. The government subsidy, coupled with the accelerated depreciation help in making the equity cash ows positive from the second year itself. Some key Features of these installations are: Small Footprint Area & Retrots: The small footprint area of ARUN dish (3m x 3m per dish) enables it to be mounted at locations which have space limitations. It can also be erected on rooftops of existing buildings. High Temperature & Pressure Delivery:

ARUN can operate up to 400C (oil) and 25 bar (steam). Government Subsidy: MNRE provides support by way of capital subsidy or soft loans for every ARUN installation. Non-Solar Hours Operations: ARUN dish can be augmented with a heat energy storage facility for operation in non-solar hours. IBR Approval: ARUN is the rst IBR approved Solar Boiler in India. High Wind Bearing Capacity: ARUN dish is designed to operate in wind speeds up to 10 m/s and it can survive in wind speeds up to 45 m/s. Concluding Remarks Mahanand and Chitale dairies have set an example by pioneering the successful use of solar technology for satisfying their thermal energy needs in various applications like pasteurization; can washing, crate washing and CIP. Not only have the systems been operating successfully, but the economics of the investment also makes a strong case for all industries in general, and dairies in particular, to install such systems.
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