Yamaha Motor India’s “5R” runs at 1100 KW, plans to increase it to 3500 KW …
April 5, 2018Looks, headlines and taglines can be very deceptive? And am sure this is the probable reason why you would have clicked on the link in the first place. Indeed there is no relevance to an automobile major’s electricity consumption to an online motoring blog, is it? Well actually there is a direct connection – Power.
Power or electricity is typically generated by hydroelectric or thermal means in India. The consumption of power by wind or solar means is comparatively less in India. So also no too long ago at the Auto Expo 2018, almost every other manufacturer displayed an electric vehicle, which left me with one question? where am I going to get a powerbank powerful enough to charge my vehicle?? What if there is a power cut or outage which is common in summer? Petrol pumps are common, what about power pumps? Where will the government get the resources to power these vehicles whereas its already running short. Yes I dread Thursdays because Pune is known to have scheduled or ad-hoc power cuts on this day. The list to questions like these is pretty much endless…
The second issue is about the environment – from a shopping bag to a card machine slip we want it all as long as its free. We rarely carry a bag to the supermarket and will not refrain to take the slip at the fuel bunk unless it is required for getting a reimbursement or submitting it as proof at our workplace. There is no dearth of “bikers” and “environmentalists” who are out to support causes on those specific days, what about otherwise? We the common public – as individuals, at work, at home what are we doing? At the restaurant can we NOT ask for extra tissues or condiments which we will not use but dispose off. On a corporate level there are some companies who have already started or some who have been using environmentally friendly methods for years now. Jumping on to this bandwagon is the Yamaha Motor India Group and while this thought as posted above was always there, this was a good time to let it flow. We appreciate this move taken and hope that everyone else joins in.
After all every unit of electricity saved is another unit generated to light up a home somewhere in the country.
Yamaha Motor India Group today further strengthened its commitment towards environment conservation by installing 1100 KW roof top solar power plant at company’s manufacturing facility in Chennai. With this new installation, the total solar capacity of Yamaha’s Chennai plant has increased to 1450 KW and the company has plans to increase the total rooftop solar capacity to 3500 KW by the end of this year.
Ariel View of the plant
The new rooftop solar panels cover factory-building area including body shop, engine building, bus parking and walkways for the employees and visitors. The unique feature of this installation is the solar panels are installed over the walkways in the plant premises. The covered walkway with solar panels will not only help in generating the green energy but also in protecting the employees from tough weather condition. The new rooftop installation would reduce CO2 emission to the extent of 1600 tons/year. Yamaha has partnered with Mahindra Susten for the installation of these Rooftop Solar panels.
In the first phase, Yamaha had installed 190 KW and 140 KW of rooftop solar panels in the Spare Parts Building and R&D Building in the plant premises in 2015. Yamaha’s Chennai factory which was inaugurated in 2015 incorporates state-of-the-art infrastructure and advanced technologies for Zero-water discharge and recycle/reuse of wastewater and maximum use of sunlight. All the buildings are designed to bear load of the solar power system installation. All common utilities are located in the centre to minimize distribution loss and centralized management.
Similarly, Yamaha has partnered with the solar service provider, M/s. Amplus Solar for installation, operation and maintenance of Solar Power System at its Surajpur plant. This is one of the largest roof top solar power plant with total capacity of 6200 KW. This project was commissioned in two phases. Phase I was inaugurated in January 2016 with generation capacity of 4000 KWp and phase II was commissioned in October 2017 with generation capacity of 2200 Kwp.
Recently under phase II, 105 KW capacity solar power plant was installed in the car parking area inside the plant premises. Approximately, 47 cars can be parked under state-of-the-art solar power plant which is also capable of meeting the future requirement of charging battery-operated cars. This particular area has a power generation capacity of 500 Units per day.
As a responsible corporate, Yamaha aims to minimize the environmental impact of its business activities. The company has adopted the culture of environment preservation by implementing ‘5Rs’ – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reform, Refuse through ‘3Es’ – Easy to make, Easy to Repair and Easy to Disassemble approach. Yamaha has successfully implemented green procurement and eliminated the use of environmentally hazardous substances from its two-wheelers. All of Yamaha plants in India are certified with Environment Management System ISO 14001:2015 and Occupational and Health Management system OHSAS 18001:2007.
Solar Power Project inauguration at Chennai Plant
About Yamaha Motor India Group
Yamaha Motor made its initial foray into India in 1985 as a joint venture. In August 2001, it became a 100% subsidiary of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd, (YMC), Japan. In 2008, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. entered into an agreement with YMC to become a joint-investor in India Yamaha Motor Private Limited (IYM). IYM’s manufacturing facilities comprise of 3 State-of-the-art plants at Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Surajpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Faridabad (Haryana). The infrastructure at both the plants supports production of motorcycles and parts for the domestic as well as overseas markets.
