Viviana Mall in Mumbai has installed one of the largest single-site solar plants in India.
The mall, located in Thane, has constructed a 900,000 volt-ampere rooftop solar power plant, which the company said was the biggest in India.
900,000 volt-ampere refers to the peak capacity of the power plant. It implies that at full power (during noon on a sunny day for example), you can power 80,000 LED lamps using the electricity generated by the rooftop panels, or operate 9,000 LCD televisions.
The plant will be able to generate about 720 units of electricity per hour, or about 3,033 units in one day (panels are assumed to work only for about 4.2 hours a day due to limited sunlight availability).
A plant of that size can generate enough power to meet the entire electricity needs of 100-150 households.
The mall expects to save 30% of its electricity usage by using solar energy and aims to generate around 33 lakh unit of electricity in the next three years.
“This is in sync with the initiative of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s vision to raise renewable capacity to 175 gigawatts by 2022 from 45 gigawatts at present,” said Sheth Corp, the company that owns the shopping destination.
Solar power is seen as the primary solution to the global warming crisis that is staring the world in its face. It is expected that if the world continues to use fossil fuels at the current rate, human life will become difficult on the planet in around 150 years or so.
“We believe solar is the power of our future. We as a part of the society are taking a small step towards saving energy by installing solar power plant in the mall. We received full co-operation, guidance and support from all concern government departments. We also aim to increase the power generation in coming years by 15 per cent and would want to be known as the greenest mall of India,” said Ashwin Sheth, Chairman and Managing Director, Sheth Corp & Viviana Mall.
“Global warming is a slow poison which can lead to irreparable hazards if we do not take necessary precautionary measures,” said Thane Mayor Sanjay More.
“We would like other corporate (organizations to) also to use solar energy in order to save our environment.”
“The potential of solar energy is immense and the same needs to be harnessed to manage our depleting resources. Sooner or later usage of solar energy would become imperative for everyone. It’s better that we start taking small steps for making a better and cleaner society to live,” said Sanjeev Jaiswal – Municipal Commissioner of Thane.
The company hopes that the initiative will help it connect with its environmentally conscious customers that are looking for environment friendly services and products.
It is also designed as a visually-impaired-friendly mall, and has its own ‘Organic Waste Management’ plant for treating organic waste into manure. All the food waste that is generated at the mall is being converted to organic manure on a daily basis.
On an average 5,500 kg of manure is generated in the plant every month which gets distributed to customers free of cost and also used for developing greenery around the mall.