Aravind Eye Care Hospitals chain emerged from Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy’s mission to eliminate the needless blindness of the people. Founded in Madurai, Tamil Nadu with 11 bed hospital, Aravind eye care emerged with more than 4000 beds. Aravind Eye Care treated more than 56 million people from its inception.

From Madurai, Aravind eye hospital expanded to Tirupur,  Salem,  Dindigul,  Thoothukudi,  Udumalaipettai , Tirupati and neighboring Pondicherry.

Adding to the mission, Aravind Eye Care hospital in Puducherry had gone for a 201 kWp solar PV system on its rooftop to cater to the continuous energy consumption of the hospital in a sustainable way.

With continuous inpatients and huge number of surgeries taking place round the clock, the hospital is contributing to huge electricity consumption. Due to which, they are incurring huge electricity bills and dependent on fossil fuels for that.

Inorder to decrease the electricity bills and contribute towards sustainable way of power generation, Aravind Eye Care hospital in Puducherry had gone for a 201 kWp solar PV system on its rooftop. 

The project was carried out in two phases with 136 kWp in Phase I and 64.6 kWp in Phase II, making it a 201.28 kWp capacity in total.

System Specifications

201.28kWp solar was installed on the roof of the Aravind Eye Hospital in Puducherry in two phases.

In the 1st phase of going solar, 136kW rooftop solar grid-tied system was commissioned on 24th January 2018. The University decided to go for the SolarEdge power optimizers and inverters rather than traditional string inverters to have a higher solar yield and greater savings.

About Technology

SolarEdge products aim to increase energy output through module-level Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) and also provide module-level remote monitoring via the SolarEdge monitoring web portal and mobile app as shown in the gallery below.

Highly satisfied with the quality of the installation, the solar generation and the service, Aravind Eye Care had further considered II nd phase of its drive for rooftop solar and commissioned another 64.6kW in IInd phase.

Catering to the needs of their energy and reducing the electricity bills, another 263.2 kW solar PV system was installed and commissioned later in October, 2018.

With 201.28 kWp solar rooftop system on various buildings in Kalasalaingam university, it contributes to savings of about Rs.1,64,650/month on an annual average. This system generated about 25,363 kWh/month on an average every month.

Generation of Phase I & II in kWh

Savings in INR/month

Both the phases of the project were installed on the flat roof with the help of Ganges structure. It is long lasting and durable enough to hold the modules for more than 25 years.

Safe walkways were provided ensuring seamless maintenance of the system. Cables were routed through UPVC pipes providing safety from external factors like weather, insects etc.