Indian Textile Manufacturing Hub Launches Solar Plant to Power Production
The textile manufacturing hub of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, has taken steps to improve its sustainable energy infrastructure with the installation of a new solar power plant.
Developed in partnership with Longi, a China-based maker of solar panels and power systems, along with engineering, procurement and construction firm Viridis Engineering, the plant features high-efficiency Hi-MO 5 solar modules that offer high power output, low degradation and high durability.
According to data from The Energy and Resources Institute, an India-based nonprofit research organization, energy usage accounts for 15 to 20 percent of total textile production cost in India. Reductions in energy bills for India-based textile makers could potentially lead to lower costs for brands further down the supply chain, as India holds a 4-percent share of the global trade in textiles and apparel, and accounted for $44 billion in exports between 2021 and 2022.
But cost savings wasn’t the only impetus driving the Tamil Nadu region—which is home to more than 1,000 textile mills—to invest in solar power. As sustainability and transparency become more important to brands and consumers, reducing emissions and the reliance on fossil fuels has become a priority for many in the textile industry.
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