Tata Power Solar and Dell India Have Built India’s Largest Vertical Solar Farm

The first of its kind, India’s Largest Vertical 120kV Solar Farm has been built on Dell’s Bengaluru campus. The plant will produce enough energy to light-up its entire cafeteria and basement parking.

Tata Power Solar, India’s largest integrated solar company, and Dell International Services India Pvt. Ltd. have together built India’s largest vertical solar farm of 120 kW. The first of its kind, 45 meter structure built on Dell’s Bengaluru campus provides the dual benefit of producing sustainable green energy and insulation of the building, thus helping reduce power consumption.

The south facing vertical solar farm was a very complex project as it needed to be integrated on the façade of the building without compromising on the aesthetics. The project is a foray for Tata Power Solar into vertical solar structures which have the potential to transform urban energy management, utilizing a fraction of the real estate which is at a premium in cities.

The solar farm, envisaged by Dell, produces enough energy to light-up its entire cafeteria and basement parking. While this significantly reduces the energy consumption of Dell, the panels itself act as solar insulation by blocking the south sun and thus reducing the power consumption of the air conditioning.

The project, by virtue of its unique design, needed significant innovation and customization of the structures, load bearing characteristics and anchorage. To integrate the 480 modules, manufactured by Tata Power Solar, a specially designed, complex scaffolding was built. Safety was of utmost importance as the entire project was on a 11 storied building wall. For optimized plant performance, the vertical structure was designed with a 30 degree moving tilt to better enable maintenance. This project further reinforces the company’s strong engineering and project management capabilities.

Commenting on the solar farm, Mr. A. Anil Uthappa, Sr. Project Manager at Dell International Services India Pvt Ltd, said “The project demonstrates Dell’s unflinching focus on reducing its carbon footprint. While solar energy generation was one of the qualifiers to attain the prestigious Green Building Platinum LEED certification, we have created the plant at almost four times the requisite capacity, demonstrating our commitment to going green. The project was complex and needed a partner with strong innovation and engineering capabilities. We are happy to have partnered with Tata Power Solar for their expertise in rooftop solar space.”

Mr. Ashish Khanna, ED & CEO, Tata Power Solar, said “We thank Dell for choosing Tata Power Solar as its partner for this innovative project. We are very proud to have successfully executed this project which is unique and complex in so many different ways. We see tremendous opportunity, especially in urban regions, to deploy such vertical solar projects with multiple benefits. We hope more corporates follow Dell in implementing such pioneering and green initiatives.”

Tata Power Solar is rated tier-1 module manufacturer by BNEF (Bloomberg New Energy Fund). They have shipped 1 GW modules to over 30 countries – the first Indian company to boast this milestone.

Press Release