First Solar Powered Textile mill in Asia to come up in Parbhani district, Maharashtra

On November 17, 2020, the chairman of Jai Bhawani Women cooperative textile mill announced that the mill will soon operate on solar power. With this, the mill will become the first Solar Power enabled textile mill in Asia. The mill is located in Parbhani district of Maharashtra.

Key Highlights

The mill is spread across 30 acres of land. It processes cotton to cloth. The mill does ginning, pressing, weaving and spinning of cotton. Parbhani district of Maharashtra is the leading cotton producing district in the state. Majority of the farmers in the state grow cotton and producing cotton is seen as a profitable investment in the state.

Textiles industry

The textiles sector requires a lot of hot water in the range of 40 degrees to 110 degrees Celsius. The requisite of heat in textile sector can be easily met through solar energy. According to Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, applying solar energy for textiles can save Rs 770 crores per annum.

Significance

The textiles and garment industry in India employs around 45 million people and contributes to 15% of India’s export earnings. India’s overall textiles imports are expected to increase to 82 billion USD in 2021. It was 31.65 billion USD in 2019.

The Indian textile industry is extremely varied. It comprises of low-scale traditional textiles to large mills. The main concern of all these mills is power. Electrical consumption alone account to 15-20% of total production cost of these mills. Thus, by solarising the textile mills, the industry can increase their profit and reduce their overall energy consumption.

Solar Energy Scheme for Powerlooms

The scheme was announced by the Ministry of Textiles in 2018. Under the scheme, the Government will provide assistance for installation of solar power plant to address power shortage issues. The scheme provides financial assistance in the form of capital subsidy to small Powerloom units. Under the scheme, the mills can install on-grid solar power plants and off-grid solar power plants.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2020