How to Size a Solar Plant for Your Factory: 1 MW, 2 MW, 5 MW or More?

The most common sizing mistake is simple: buying the plant you can afford, not the plant your factory can use. Too small leaves savings on the table. Too large pushes surplus power into the grid at low value.

Benchmarks from Gujarat Projects

Use these as planning numbers, not quotes:

1 MW: ₹3.8–₹4.5 crore | 4–5 acres | 15–17 lakh units a year

2 MW: ₹7.5–₹9 crore | 8–10 acres | 30–34 lakh units a year

5 MW: Cost scale-dependent [verify] | 20–25 acres [verify] | 75–85 lakh units a year [verify]

At ₹7–₹9 per unit, each MW saves roughly ₹1.05–₹1.5 crore a year.

Step 1: Read Your Load Profile

Pull 12 months of bills and, if you can, 15-minute interval data. Look at:

• Daytime consumption between 9 AM and 5 PM

• Contract demand and maximum demand

• Seasonal swings, since summer cooling and production peaks change the picture

Solar should be sized against daytime load, not total monthly consumption.

Step 2: Decide Your Offset Target

• 30–50% offset: Low risk, fast payback

• 50–70% offset: Common for industrial units with strong daytime load

• 70%+ offset: Needs storage or careful load management

Step 3: Check Grid and Regulatory Limits

Connection voltage, available transformer capacity and applicable regulations all cap what you can install. Confirm these before design.

Step 4: Match Size to Land

Fix the land first. Land that supports only 7 acres does not support 2 MW, however attractive the number looks.

Step 5: Plan for Growth

Factories expand. Leave space, cable routes and inverter capacity so you can add a block later. Expanding a well-planned plant costs far less than building a second one.

Step 6: Test the Financials

For each size, compare:

• Capex

• Annual savings

• Payback period (typically 3.5 to 5 years)

• Savings over 25 years, before tariff revisions

The best size is usually where the extra MW still pays back within your target period.

Common Sizing Errors

• Sizing to monthly kWh instead of daytime load

• Ignoring planned production expansion

• Oversizing without export or banking clarity

• Skipping the land and substation check

Final Thoughts

Right-sizing is an engineering decision before it is a financial one. A plant sized to your real load runs efficiently from the first day.

Get a Size Recommendation With Numbers

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Green Revolution Powerpark LLP
info@greenrevolutionpowerpark.com
www.greenrevolutionpowerpark.com