Tuesday, July 02, 2013: Tata Power Solar has come up with a retrofit unit called the SunJeevini that allows charging conventional inverter batteries with solar units. For areas that are worst hit with long durations of power cuts, this could be a highly suitable alternative. In the absence of grid power supply, the existing inverters could as well be charged with solar energy and used in time of crisis. This also helps save huge upon electricity bills.
Tata Power Solar suggests that this would be a zero maintenance installation unit and will be able to provide 3.5 hours of power backup daily.
SunJeevini has been designed to scale between 80 and 600 solar watts and this does not create any major change to the system. Solar power is free and will help people switch to an eco-friendly alternative while saving on electricity bills. Ajay Goel, the CEO for Tata Power Solar said that this new system ensures that inverters this way are always functional and ready to use, with or without the availability of grid power.
In a country like India, where grid supply has not yet reached many rural communities, such a retrofit unit could present a high potential. India is a tropical country and gets plenty of sun all throughout the day. The company has selected a few key markets for its first phase of launch and it will gradually be expanded to other areas. The marketing and distribution will be done by Tata Power Solar dealer network. The basic unit starts at Rs 11,000 but there are other three expensive variants of SunJeevini.
