Case Study: 1800kW Rooftop Solar for Hemraj Industries — Engineering Solar for a Food Processing
Rice mills run on tight margins and heavy, continuous electricity draw — de-husking, polishing, drying, and grading equipment all pull power through long operating hours, often across multiple shifts. For Hemraj Industries, a leading rice mill in Purba Burdwan, West Bengal, that electricity load had become one of the largest recurring costs in the business.
SolarLogix, an Authorised EPC Channel Partner of TATA Power Solar, was engaged to design and install a rooftop solar system that could meaningfully offset that load — without disrupting the mill’s day-to-day operations or requiring a rooftop it wasn’t built for.
The result: an 1800kW rooftop solar installation generating approximately 6,408 units per day, delivering an estimated ₹1,98,80,820 in annual savings, a 30.6% return on investment, and a payback period of approximately 3.27 years.
Project Snapshot
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Industry | Rice Mill / Agro-Processing |
| Location | Purba Burdwan, West Bengal |
| Installed Capacity | 1800 kW |
| Structure Type | GI Sheet Rooftop with Customized Fabrication |
| Daily Generation | ~6,408 units |
| Annual Savings (est.) | ₹1,98,80,820 |
| Return on Investment | 30.6% |
| Payback Period | ~3.27 years |
| EPC Partner Status | Authorized EPC Channel Partner of TATA Power Solar |
Figures reflect SolarLogix’s project estimates for this specific installation and are not indicative of guaranteed outcomes for other sites — actual generation, savings, and payback vary by roof, load profile, and location.
The Engineering Challenge
Large-scale industrial rooftop solar isn’t a matter of simply covering available roof area with panels. Hemraj Industries presented three distinct engineering challenges that had to be solved together, not separately.
Challenge 1: A Rooftop That Wasn’t Built for Solar
Like most working mills, Hemraj Industries’ rooftop is a GI sheet structure — built for weatherproofing and structural coverage of milling equipment below, not for supporting a solar array. Fitting an 1800kW system onto this kind of roof meant the mounting structure couldn’t be a standard, off-the-shelf design; it had to be custom-fabricated to the mill’s exact rooftop layout and load-bearing capacity.
Solution: SolarLogix engineered a GI sheet rooftop mounting structure with customized fabrication, designed for seamless integration with the mill’s existing rooftop framework — avoiding structural compromises while maximizing usable panel area.
Challenge 2: Making 1800kW Perform Consistently
At this scale, the investment case for solar depends entirely on the system delivering high, dependable output day after day. A system that underperforms even modestly at 1800kW capacity represents a meaningfully larger absolute shortfall than the same underperformance would on a small residential system.
Solution: The completed installation delivers approximately 6,408 units of generation per day, translating into the 30.6% annualized ROI the project has achieved.
Challenge 3: Space Efficiency Without Disrupting Operations
Rice mills run continuously during processing seasons. Any rooftop project has to work around ongoing operations below — the mill couldn’t afford downtime or disruption to accommodate the installation.
Solution: The customized fabrication design was built specifically to make efficient use of the available rooftop area while keeping the mill’s day-to-day operations undisturbed throughout and after installation.
Why the Financial Case Made Sense
For an industrial buyer, “does solar make sense here” ultimately comes down to one question: how long until the system pays for itself, and what does it deliver after that?
At Hemraj Industries, the answer is a 3.27-year payback period against an estimated ₹1,98,80,820 in annual savings — meaning the system is projected to fund its own cost roughly three times over within a typical 10-year horizon, before accounting for the additional decade-plus of usable system life beyond that. That combination is what underpins the project’s 30.6% annualized ROI.
For rice mills and similar agro-processing operations — where electricity is a large, continuous, and rising line-item cost — this is the kind of return that shifts solar from “environmentally responsible” to “financially necessary.”
Environmental Impact at Scale
Beyond the balance sheet, the Hemraj Industries installation carries a substantial environmental footprint reduction:
- 37,335.96 metric tons of CO₂ offset per year — equivalent to preserving approximately 43,831.44 acres of forest
- 18,516.42 metric tons of coal burn avoided per year — comparable to planting roughly 6,17,865 trees
- Over 1.59 crore liters of petrol consumption avoided annually — equivalent to offsetting roughly 14.68 crore kilometers of driving
For an industrial buyer, this scale of environmental offset is often as relevant to stakeholder and compliance conversations as the financial return itself — particularly as sustainability reporting becomes more common across Indian agro-processing supply chains.
Ongoing Monitoring and Support
Installation wasn’t the end of SolarLogix’s involvement. Hemraj Industries’ system is tracked through ongoing generation reporting, giving mill management continuous visibility into plant performance rather than relying on estimates alone. This is part of SolarLogix’s broader approach: pairing every large-scale industrial installation with a structured maintenance and monitoring framework — from essential preventive care through advanced, performance-assured service tiers — so that the ROI calculated at commissioning holds up over the system’s operating life.
Why This Project Reflects SolarLogix’s Broader Approach
Hemraj Industries is one of 200+ solar projects SolarLogix has delivered across India, and it reflects the same engineering-first philosophy applied across the portfolio — including landmark projects like India’s first Bifacial Solar Project (Chengmari Tea Estate, 1040kW) delivered via TATA Power, and India’s first Solar Cafeteria. SolarLogix was also recognized as Green MSME of the Year 2025.
As an Authorized EPC Channel Partner of TATA Power Solar, SolarLogix brings deep, sector-specific experience to rice mill and agro-industry solar — recognizing that a mill’s rooftop, load pattern, and operational continuity requirements are fundamentally different from a warehouse, office, or residential rooftop, and engineering accordingly rather than applying a generic template.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the daily and annual performance of the Hemraj Industries system? The 1800kW rooftop system delivers a daily solar generation of approximately 6,408 units, translating into estimated annual savings of ₹1,98,80,820, a return on investment of 30.6%, and a payback period of approximately 3.27 years.
2. What kind of rooftop structure was used for this project? The solar infrastructure is mounted on a GI sheet rooftop structure with customized fabrication tailored to Hemraj Industries’ requirements, ensuring efficient use of rooftop space and seamless integration with existing structures.
3. What is the environmental impact of this project? The system offsets approximately 37,335.96 metric tons of CO₂ annually, equivalent to preserving 43,831.44 acres of forest. It also avoids about 18,516.42 metric tons of coal burn per year, comparable to planting 6,17,865 trees, and avoids over 1.59 crore liters of petrol consumption annually — equivalent to over 14.68 crore kilometers of driving.
4. Who installed the solar system at Hemraj Industries? SolarLogix, an Authorized EPC Channel Partner of TATA Power Solar, designed and installed the 1800kW rooftop solar system at Hemraj Industries, a rice mill in Purba Burdwan, West Bengal.
5. Why is this considered a turnkey solar solution? SolarLogix’s expertise in delivering end-to-end turnkey solar solutions enabled Hemraj Industries to transition to solar-supported operations without managing multiple vendors or contractors across the project lifecycle.
6. Can a similar system be engineered for other rice mills or agro-processing plants? Every mill has a different rooftop structure, load profile, and operational schedule, so system design is always site-specific — but SolarLogix’s experience with GI sheet structures and continuous-operation facilities carries directly into similar agro-industry projects.
Considering Solar for Your Mill or Industrial Facility?
If your facility runs the kind of continuous, high-volume electricity load that rice mills, cold storages, or agro-processing plants typically carry, a site-specific assessment is the starting point — not a generic estimate. SolarLogix’s engineering team will assess your rooftop structure, operational schedule, and consumption pattern before recommending a system design.
Disclaimer: Performance figures, savings estimates, ROI, and payback period cited in this case study are specific to the Hemraj Industries installation and are based on SolarLogix’s project data as published. They are not a guarantee of results for any other site — actual generation, savings, and payback vary based on roof condition, location, load profile, and system configuration. Please consult SolarLogix for a site-specific assessment before making any investment decision.
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