Consulate General of France in Pondicherry
Project Background
The Consulate General of France in Pondicherry, on Marine Street, was allocated to the French Consulate General in 1956 and is the only diplomatic mission in town. This colonial building has changed several hands over the years, and yet managed to hold on to some of its original 18th century architecture.
The United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in Paris in December 2015 had a significant impact on the Embassy of France in India. This motivated them to implement several projects to make the Pondicherry Consulate General building more environment friendly in 2016. In addition to the several energy conservation initiatives already implemented over the years, the Consulate set up a 45.36kW roof top on-grid solar system in July 2016.
Sunlit Future designed, constructed and performs maintenance of this site. With more than 1.5MW of on-grid solar energy plants installed or under contract in India, Sunlit Future has the experience and capacities for design, procurement, integration, management, installation and maintenance of solar energy applications and services.
Economic and Environmental Benefits
The system was expected to produce at least 70,000kWh/year, helping the French Consulate to reduce their electricity bill by a minimum of INR4,70,000/year. The solar system has already exceeded 74,000kWh/year and the Consulate has saved a little over INR5,00,000. It is expected that with the present tariff, the capital investment would be recovered in four years.
Location | Puducherry |
Owner | The Embassy of France in India |
Capacity | 45.36kW |
Number of panels | 144 |
Type of panels | Poly-crystalline |
Panel Wattage | 315W |
Orientation | East-West facing |
Inverter | 20kW (2 units) |
Average units per day | 200 |
Average units per year | 74,000 |
Date of commissioning | 22nd June, 2016 |