Daimler India expands solar power capacity to 3.3 Megawatts

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has completed a major expansion of its solar power generation capacity, at the company's manufacturing plant located in Oragadam, near Chennai. DICV has made a significant addition to the photovoltaic cell installations at its manufacturing plant, which has increased its power generation capacity from 0.8 MW to 3.3 MW.

The solar power field has been located intelligently within the confines of the manufacturing plant's test track. This has resulted in optimum utilization of the land between the circuit where Daimler's commercial vehicles are tested. The aforementioned expansion of solar plant includes 10,000 new photovoltaic panels. These newly installed polycrystalline solar panels have increased power generation of the plant by more than 300%. Daimler India claims that it is now generating more than one-fourth of the total daytime average electric power needed at the Chennai plant, using environment-friendly renewable energy.

In addition to the said solar power plant, DICV, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler AG, has also taken several other steps in order to make manufacturing more environment-friendly and sustainable. The company has planted 16,000 trees in the 400 acres wide Chennai campus, since it started operations here in the year 2012. An advanced rainwater harvesting system too has been put in place that holds water in a large pond of 60,000 kilolitre capacity. Two sewage treatment plants have been commissioned to return clean water that can be used for irrigation.

Through these efforts, Daimler India plans to make its Commercial Vehicle plant in Chennai one of India's greenest industrial complexes.