
Q1) What key factors contributed to the success of Enrich Energy making the country’s first Solar Park in Maharashtra, and how did it set an industry benchmark?
The Commercial & Industrial (C&I) segment customers stand to gain numerous benefits from adopting solar power, particularly through their own captive solar plants. However, many C&I customers lack the necessary expertise, resources, and bandwidth to establish and operate a solar plant effectively. They also face challenges in navigating the regulatory landscape and managing the complexities of bill-level unit adjustments.
Recognizing these barriers, Enrich Energy adopted a customer-centric approach and pioneered the Solar Park business model, specifically tailored for C&I customers. This innovative model simplified the adoption of solar energy, offering a hassle-free, end-to-end solution with single-point accountability. Enrich managed everything from project concept to commissioning and provided ongoing support throughout the project’s lifecycle. By housing these projects in its integrated Solar Park, Enrich ensured safety, reliability, and operational excellence for its clients.
Within a year of Enrich’s inception, in 2012 the company successfully commissioned India’s first private Solar Park in Maharashtra, with a capacity of 50 MW. The park was fully subscribed in record time, demonstrating the model’s immense value and appeal. Buoyed by this success, Enrich has since scaled this model, commissioning seven Solar Parks across India and planning five more, which are currently in various stages of development.
This pioneering initiative not only addressed a critical gap in the market but also set a new industry benchmark, showcasing how solar energy can be made accessible and viable for businesses at scale.
Q2) How does Enrich Energy’s customer-centric Solar Park model benefit C&I customers compared to traditional rooftop solar solutions?
At first glance, rooftop solar solutions may appear simpler to execute since the key resource—the rooftop—is already under the customer’s control. However, several inherent constraints in rooftop systems significantly limit the true potential and benefits of solar energy.
- Space Limitations: Rooftop systems are constrained by the available space, often resulting in project capacities far below the customer’s actual energy requirements.
- Design Constraints: Rooftop projects are limited by roof topology, which restricts optimal design engineering. This reduces energy generation efficiency and the system’s overall performance.
- Safety and Workability Challenges: The challenging working conditions on rooftops pose safety risks and often lead to compromises during installation and maintenance.
- Cost Efficiency: Rooftop solar solutions are relatively expensive, with a higher cost per unit of energy generated due to inefficiencies in scale and design.
In contrast, Enrich Energy’s customer-centric Solar Park model overcomes these challenges by offering a utility-scale, ground-mounted solar power solution that is tailor-made for C&I customers.
- Scalability: Solar Parks offer virtually unlimited capacity, allowing customers to align project size with their precise energy requirements.
- End-to-End Solution: Enrich takes full responsibility for all aspects of the project, including land acquisition, regulatory approvals, engineering, procurement, construction (EPC), operations, and maintenance. This eliminates any burden on the customer, providing a hassle-free experience with single-point accountability.
- Efficiency: Ground-mounted Solar Parks are optimized for maximum energy generation efficiency through superior design and technology.
By choosing Enrich’s Solar Park model, C&I customers can enjoy the benefits of a tailored, high-capacity solar energy solution without needing technical expertise, manpower, or additional resources. This long-term partnership ensures optimal energy generation, reduced operational risks, and cost-effective sustainability over the project’s 25-year lifecycle.
Q3) With supportive government policies, many C&I customers are saving up to 50% on electricity bills. How do you see these policies evolving and impacting Solar Park growth?
There are many ways in which the government policies are supporting renewable energy adoption by C&I consumers directly and indirectly. In the leading industrialized states, the power tariffs for HT industrial and commercial customers are very high, ranging from INR 6-7 to more than 15 per kWh. Under the open access policy, the state discoms allow these C&I companies to set-up a solar energy project “anywhere” within the same state boundary. The power generated by this project is then “wheeled” through the state power grid and the C&I consumer can set-off this generation against its consumption. There is an attractive delta between the unit cost of generation and tariff of discom in favor of the C&I consumer enabling the C&I consumer to save up to 50% (varies from case to case) on the power cost.
Going ahead, with the Green Open Access Rule (GOAR) being adopted and implemented by most of the states, the minimum contract demand limit to avail solar energy wheeling is now lowered to between 500 kW to 100 kW thus brining a large number of small & medium scale C&I consumers to avail solar energy from their captive projects.
The next boog step awaited by the industry is allowance of Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to be integrated in to these captive solar power projects which will be a game changing solution and a win-win for all stakeholders. This will help overcome the issues related to banking of unused solar energy which otherwise faces resistance from discoms and help them to a great extent in balancing the grid to accommodate more solar energy. For the C&I customers, the BESS integration will result in more savings by adjusting larger quantum of solar energy against their daily consumption pattern.
Q4) Innovation has been central to Enrich Energy’s success. How do you continue driving technological advancements in Solar Park development?
From its inception, Enrich Energy has made technological innovation a cornerstone of its success. By adopting a technology-agnostic business model, Enrich has remained flexible and open to leveraging the latest advancements across all facets of solar power development. This approach enables Enrich to integrate cutting-edge technologies, whether in solar modules, inverters, software capabilities, or the emerging trend of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
In 2019, Enrich showcased the commitment to technology innovation by incorporating a robotic cleaning system into our landmark 100 MW NLC project in Tamil Nadu—well ahead of industry requirements. This forward-thinking feature was not only noticed but also praised by Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was present during the project’s inauguration.
Enrich’s technological leadership is spearheaded by, Mr. Dharmesh Tanti – Director Operations, who is a visionary and technology enthusiast who stays ahead of market trends. Under his guidance, Enrich has developed a highly skilled in-house team of technology experts who meticulously handle the design and engineering of each project. Their attention to detail ensures that every project delivers maximum performance and reliability.
Enrich’s software development team has also made significant strides, creating a robust and feature-rich SCADA system for solar projects. Currently, they are developing a state-of-the-art control and management system for BESS integration, which will further enhance energy storage and grid balancing capabilities.In addition, Enrich maintains long-term partnerships with leading component and subsystem providers. These collaborations enable Enrich to co-develop customized and optimized solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of Solar Parks. By combining in-house expertise with industry partnerships, Enrich Energy continues to set benchmarks in technological innovation and operational excellence.