Japan Tobacco opts for solar rooftop at its manufacturing plant in Batangas

energy is it” had been the track taken by Japan Tobacco International (JTI) on its electricity utilization, as it opted for solar rooftop installation at its new manufacturing plant in Batangas.

JTI’s solar power system was designed and installed by Filipino firm Solenergy Systems, Inc. – and it shall have 4.77 megawatt-peak of energy generation.

According to Solenergy, “this selfconsumption rooftop solar PV system is the largest in Southeast Asia and one of the largest in the world.”

The solar firm added that the JTI solar rooftop system comprises of 17,040 solar panels from Canadian Solar, Inc. and spans across the tobacco firm’s roof area of more than 27,000 square meters.

Solenergy explained that solar panels had been “connected to 213 Fronius International GmbH grid-tied inverters, which dynamically convert the yielded solar power to usable AC (alternating current) electricity.”

It emphasized that “the advanced features of the Fronius inverters were also critical to the project’s success, as they are being used to help regulate and optimize the client’s power factor.”

The company added that the system has been designed “for self-consumption to directly offset JTI’s power demand.”

In meeting the client’s need, the solar company expounded that it needed to integrate its “proprietary curtailment control” into the system, to dynamically regulate the power demand that would be able to match the client’s needs.

Annually, the solar photovoltaic (PV) facility will be producing roughly 6.5 gigawatt hours of electricity – the equivalent of which could power up to 4,300 homes.

On the whole though, one crucial benefit reaped from this solar PV installation will be the 4.0 million kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that could be offset – which Solenergy claimed could have been inconceivable if JTI opted to take its power from the main grid.

Solenergy recounted that its participation in the project “began months before the groundbreaking of the facility” – starting from pre-construction so it can streamline the architectural as well as electrical design into the entire chain. (MMV)