India One Solar Thermal Power Plant

For Brahma Kumaris (BK) and the World Renewal Spiritual Trust (WRST), the need for renewable energy emerged due to the fast growth of the organization and the need to provide the headquarters, visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year, with reliable and sustainable energy supply. Using clean and renewable energy for the operation of Brahma Kumaris centers is an expression of respect for the natural resources. Initiative of “India One” by the team of WRST was driven by the vision of providing undisrupted, round-the-clock solar power to the institution, with the technology that is suitable for India. The vision has been achieved by developing indigenous and simplified Concentrating Solar Power technology, with breakthrough thermal storage: reliable, low maintenance, easy to fabricate and cost effective. “India One” team aims to demonstrate this innovative technology for combined heat and power applications thorough capacity building in local community, facilitating technology transfer to interested companies and dissemination of knowledge to the wide public, inspiring individuals and communities to use the renewable energy.
Specific aim of the project was to design and develop “India One” 1.0 MW el solar thermal power plant with 16 hour storage for night operation to supply power for the headquarters of Brahma Kumaris (25,000 people) in Abu Road, Rajasthan. Due to its research nature and potential for India, the project was partly financed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India and the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), Government of Germany via the GIZ, with the objective to demonstrate and promote the new technology. India One Solar Thermal Power Plant was commissioned in the beginning of 2017. Now the team operates and continues to optimize the performance of the plant. The team also cooperates with various prestigious Indian scientific institutes in solar thermal R&D projects.