Client Name: Sona Koyo Steering

Project Type : Industrial

System Capacity: 35,000 Litres per Day (LPD)

Location: Sriperumbudur, Chennai

System Type: ETC Non-Pressurized System

Sona Koyo Steering achieves savings from fossil fuel with industrial solar thermal implementation

Client Background

Founded in 1987, the Sona group was set up to manufacture components for the automotive industry and has engineering capabilities in the machining and assembly, precision forging, cold and hot forging and heat treatment. The group’s range of products primarily consist of steering and driveline components for the automotive OEM segment, namely passenger cars, utility vehicles, commercial vehicles and speciality vehicles.

Project Background

The Sriperumbudur, Chennai plant of Sona Koyo Steering Systems had a daily requirement of hot water for their automotive . The daily requirement involved the usage of hot water in the degreasing solution spraying process, phosphating solution spray process as well as the passivation solution spray process. The hot water requirement was in the temperature range 65-70 Deg C, which was being met by a furnace oil fed boiler. The incumbent solution involved the use of 3000 litres of furnace oil every month (36,000 litres per year) to fire the boiler and heat water at the requisite temperature for daily process use.

The client provided Solar Hitech a mandate to minimize the use of fossil fuel by replacing the arrangement with a customized solar thermal solution.

Solution Design

The Solar Hitech team performed a detailed energy audit and heat load calculation for the client and analyzed the daily usage of water in the various processes. Post analysis, it was understood that the estimated total heat capacity required for all processes per day was 210 KW, which worked out to 35,000 Litres per Day.

A customized solution involving solar thermal modules connected in series/parallel configuration was proposed, which would harness solar energy and pass it on to a heat transfer fluid, which in turn transfers its heat through a plate heat exchanger to the water circulating in the phosphating, degreasing and passivation process circuits.  The use of circulation pumps in the design ensures that the heat transfer fluid is always circulated to maintain the required temperature.

The solution proposed involved 35 nos of 6 KW Evacuated Tube Collector (ETC) type Solar Thermal collectors, Plate Heat Exchanger, circulating pumps, sensors, valves along with turnkey installation and commissioning.

Project Implementation & Client Savings

The project was designed, delivered and commissioned within 4 months and the savings from the project were visible almost immediately for the client.

• By installing the solar thermal solution, the client saved close to 120 Litres of furnace oil daily, that worked out to an annual savings of Rs. 16 Lakhs.
• The client was able to claim depreciation on the invested asset, that contributed to income tax savings over the life time of the asset.
• Under the central government subsidy scheme, the industrial solar solution was also eligible for a subsidy of Rs. 3000 per sq. m, giving the client a subsidy saving of Rs. 13 Lakhs on the overall cost of project.
• For an asset under annual maintenance with an estimated lifetime of 10+ years, the asset investment paid back in under 3 years, delivering pure savings to the client for the rest of the asset lifetime.
• Inspite of fluctuations in global furnace oil costs, the project continues to deliver significant savings for the client with additional scope for replication in other manufacturing facilities