Welspun Energy Ltd. (WEL) is an leading power company based in New Delhi, India.
It is a subsidiary of Welspun Group which has interests in power generation, infrastructure,
exploration and production of oil and natural gas, steel pipes and textiles. Aiming
to commission 1,700 MW of solar and wind power projects across India by 2016, WEL
has successfully commissioned around 320 MW capacity of solar PV projects on a turnkey
basis well in advance of the stipulated timelines. Currently, cumulative solar and
wind projects are under construction in 5 states in India. Welspun Energy has thus
achieved a leadership position as the Solar EPC market in India.
The Need
To meet the challenges of climate change and address India's energy needs, the Government
of India launched a major initiative - The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission
(also known as the National Solar Mission) as solar power is abundant and offers
a solution to fossil fuel emissions and global climate change.
The objective of the National Solar Mission is to establish India as a global leader
in solar energy by creating the policy conditions for its diffusion across the country
as quickly as possible. Welspun Energy, committed to supplying clean energy to power
India's growth, won the contract of building 50 MW solar project near Phalodi, Jodhpur
district in three phases (15, 15 and 20 MW) through a competitive bid under Batch-2,
Phase-1 of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission.
The Solution
As a part of this project, C&A was awarded a contract by Welspun Energy to provide
Control & Automation system for India's largest Solar PV Power plant based on Thin
Film Photovoltic Technology (50 MW) in the national renewable energy programme.
C&A was selected by Welspun Energy for providing the technically superior and economical
solution in a competitive bidding. The extensive knowledge of control systems, project
management and solar technology gave C&A an edge over the others.
As part of the contract, C&A was responsible for Design, Engineering, Supply, Installation,
Commissioning of complete Control & Automation package covering
- RTU based Control System with 25 Nos of RTU panels
- State of the art SCADA system () for control, monitoring & data acquisition
- IT hardware including the Servers and Engineering stations and networking hardware
- Weather Monitoring System
- Fire Alarm System
- CCTV System
- OFC cable network
The communication was established between RTU panels with field equipment like String
Monitoring Units, Weather Monitoring System, Inverters, Multi Function Meters &
Relays in the Switchgear panels. After establishing communication with the RTU,
the data from the above equipment was monitored and controlled though the start-of-art
SCADA system. The reports were generated that could be effectively utilised at various
levels of the organisation.
The RTU panels were connected to the switchgear panels to monitor and control breakers
in the panels. CCTVs were commissioned across the plant for perimeter surveillance
of the solar PV plant, where all the cameras were connected to the central control
room.
Fire alarm system with multi sensor type smoke detectors were commissioned in the
inverter, switchgear and control rooms. This equipment was further conncted to RTU
system for remote monitoring. The Weather Monitoring System was deployed for providing
ambient Temperature, Module Temperature., Incident solar radiation through pyranometer
and wind speed. This equipment was further connected to RTU system for remote monitoring.
The plant was commissioned and is in operation since March 2014.