Solar energy solutions company Orb Energy won the "Best C&I Project (Rooftop)" award at the recent 2021 Mercom India Solar Summit.

The 2021 Mercom India Solar Awards has seven award categories. The winners are selected based on project innovation, challenges overcome, uniqueness, and impact on the community, economy, and environment.

The Mercom India team screened a large number of nominations within a few weeks. Companies from all over the world are allowed to submit applications when developing projects individually in India. Nominations from participants and third-party vendors and suppliers have also been accepted. The Mercom expert panel selected the winners.

Orb Energy's 3 MW project installed on a single roof is one of the largest single roof solar projects. It was installed for Klene Paks Limited, a customer engaged in the manufacture of woven bags in Karnataka.

K. Thyagaraju, Vice President of Technology and Photovoltaic Projects won the award.

The project adopted all safety measures for quality maintenance, enabling customers to obtain the best output from the factory. Its remote monitoring system can help customers remotely monitor system performance, thereby drastically reducing electricity bills.

The grid-connected photovoltaic system was designed, installed and commissioned by Orb Energy within six months.

The main challenge of the project was the stability of the roof, which had to withstand the weight of more than 9,000 solar panels and a structure weighing about 200 tons. After conducting a detailed study of the roof design and its load-bearing beams, Orb's installation team began to effectively use purlins to install solar panels. The purlin is the main load-bearing object of the roof.

Since customers choose to consume on their own, they must adjust the large amount of electricity generated by solar energy, especially during holidays when the load is less. The system is designed to handle 80% of the load consumption. A special control unit installed near the inverter reduces the energy output generated by solar energy through the inverter, thereby avoiding feeding excess power into the grid.

Walkways or passages are built for each solar module array to facilitate the maintenance of solar modules. The piping points are designed and installed to run the water so that the service team can effectively clean all modules to obtain maximum output.

Trina Solar provided components for this project. The inverter is provided by Delta.

BR Gururaj, vice president of IT and communications, said that the award is a "loud endorsement" of the project. "This recognition encourages companies to become more innovative and competitive," he said, hoping that the Mercom Award will become a regular event.

Orb Energy provides a range of solar solutions for residential, commercial and industrial customers. It pays particular attention to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because they are largely underserved market segments.

In January 2018, the Dutch development finance company FMO provided Orb Energy with US$4 million (approximately 254 million rupees) in equity financing to expand its internal financing mechanism for providing rooftop solar projects to small and medium-sized enterprises in India and Kenya.