The violin-shaped Chowdiah Memorial Hall could have a solar rooftop system of 40.3kWp (kilo watt peak) based on sanctioned load with a minimum annual solar generation of 75,966.62 kWh/year.
The Vyalikaval police station could have a solar rooftop system of 8.775 kWp capacity and expect an annual solar power generation of 12671.63kWh/year.
The demo version of CREST (CSTEP’s Rooftop Evaluation for Solar Tool), the web-based tool for people to assess the technical and financial viability of installing a rooftop photovoltaic (RTPV) system on their building rooftops, analyses, among other things, technical aspects such as the solar panel details and inverter details, as well as financial aspects such as savings on the bills.
The project is being executed by the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) for the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom). Bescom’s current solar power generation from rooftop solar plants is around 100.6 MW.
The tool is currently being piloted on a 4 sq.km. area using 12 buildings as representative of Malleswaram, said Saptak Ghosh, Research Scientist, CSTEP, adding that the tool would be launched before the month-end.
“We ran the tool on empty rooftops. Each of these buildings has a sanctioned load from Bescom. When a guest logs in, one can see the recommended system design, which has been designed so not to exceed the sanctioned load,” he said.
The PPEC school, Sadashivanagar building was found to have the most number of polygons (rooftops of varying heights), which can create shadows on one another.
CREST used airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) - said to be the the first time in the country - to assess RTPV potential across 1,176 sq.km. in and around Bengaluru. The high-resolution aerial imagery captured through LiDAR led to creation of virtual 3D maps of the whole area. These were used to calculate the solar potential on each roof after considering shading aspects created by neighbouring obstacles such as trees, buildings, poles, etc.
The tool interfaces with Bescom’s consumer database, linking your Bescom account ID to your chosen building rooftop.
The tool then calculates the optimal RTPV system size based on your sanctioned load from Bescom and shows you the ideal location on your rooftop for RTPV installation.
Bescom Managing Director C. Shikha told The Hindu that the beta version is operational and the tool will be fully functional in three weeks’ time. “From a consumer perspective, the tool can tell them what is the potential of their rooftop so that they can choose a better area and location to install the plant and ensure return on investment. For Bescom, it helps in demand aggregation. We also get to know what are the most solar rich areas which will help us in planning as well,” she said.