This estimation has been made considering only 25%

penetration level of implementation. This penetration

level have been considered after consultations with the
stakeholders and keeping in mind the constraints like
availability of free space in the premises of unit and
viability of replacing the usage of present fuel.
This reduction in fossil fuel consumption reflects an
overall reduction of around 17% just for thermal
applications and any reduction on account of electricity
generation will be additional to this.

Feasibility (Typical Case Example)

Walk through energy audits were carried out in some of
the electroplating plants to analyze the technical
feasibility of installing solar applications. We are
providing here the results of one such study.
Application: The plating bath solution temperature
o
requirement is around 40-60 C which is dependent on
the type of electroplating being undertaken.
Recommendation: This temperature can be easily
achieved with the use of both FPC as well as ETC
technologies. The payback of using such solar
equipments is as below:
Installed Capacity =
7800 liters / day
Investment (Rs.) =

1,092,166

Payback period

2-3 year

Savings

79,200kWh / annum

Field surveys revealed that small sized electroplating units

have free space constraint with regards to deployment of
solar thermal application. However, medium to larger size
units have sufficient free space for installing solar systems.
Closed loop solar system is applicable for heating of the
plating bath in the electroplating units.
Solar technologies namely Flat Plate Collectors (FPC) as well
as Evacuated Tube Concentrators (ETC) can be employed in
this sector.
In case of FPC, the cost benefit analysis of installation of
solar water heating systems for identified processes gives
IRRs in the range of 29-31 % with capital subsidy and 1921% without capital subsidy.
Whereas in case of ETC, the cost benefit analysis of
installation of solar water heating systems for identified
processes gives IRRs in the range of 40-44% with capital
subsidy and 25-28 % without capital subsidy.
The field visit of the units show that there is a potential of
replacement of existing systems with the solar systems for
50-100% of their energy requirements for plating baths
depending on the operating hours of the unit.
Discussions with the industry association as well as unit
owners revealed that awareness level needs to be
increased to increase the penetration of solar systems in
this sector.
MNRE can take steps to create awareness in this sector for
the promotion of solar systems and provide incentives
initially to participating units.

A
Potential sector for
Solar Energy Applications

Findings
Some of the major findings from the field visits of units in
this sector are:
The sector has good potential for installation of solar
applications.
o
o
Electroplating units require water at 40 C to 60 C in
their different processes which can be easily
generated using solar heat. This will replace electric
heaters or diesel/ furnace oil fired boilers used
predominantly across the sector.

Electroplating

Note: Photograph shown in title page has been taken from the web
(www.supplyindia.in)

Project Background
The project Commercialisation of Solar Energy in Urban
and Industrial Areas ComSolar is a joint effort of the
Governments of India and Germany, represented by the
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), and
the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature
Conservation and Nuclear Safety BMU who engaged
Deutsche
Gesellschaft
fr
Internationale
Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) with the implementation. The
project aims to commercialize solar applications by
encouraging their use in urban and industrial
applications by undertaking pilot projects and
developing viable business models.
In the initial stage, 37 industrial sectors were chosen for
the study. A framework was developed to filter the
most promising 10 industrial sectors that have highest
potential for solar energy applications. The study
revealed that the Electroplating sector falls in these 10
most promising sectors.
A detailed study was undertaken in the electroplating
sector where a few industrial units were visited to find
practical applications which are technically feasible and
financially viable.

Sector Introduction
Electroplating Industry is widely spread out across the
country. The industry can be categorized in to two types(i) Primary User and Original Equipment (OE)
manufacturer, engaged in electroplating as one of their
overall manufacturing activity and (ii) Job work units,
who do only plating for a large variety of components for
both domestic and export purpose. The industry has a
diversified product base and majority of them are SMEs.
Compounded average annual growth rate of
electroplating industry is about 16.60%. The sector
employs about 1,30,000 people in approximately 12,000
organized units. No statistics is available for unorganized
units.

Type of Plating

We can see below the typical share of various fuel

consumptions in the electroplating sector.

Nickle Plating

Chrome Plating

Ni-Cr Plating
Cyanide Silver Plating
Cynide copper Plating

Cynide Zinc Plating

Acid Zinc Plating

5%

Pretreatment/Cleaning

25%

Plating
Post Treatment/Drying
70%

Type of Processes
Polishing of Material
Mounting of Treatment Devices
Acid Washing

Solar Energy Applications

Technology Mapping
Processes in the electroplating industry use either electrical
energy or need process heat i.e. thermal energy.. Most of

Electrolytic Cleaning

thermal energy applications in electroplating require low

range temperatures which are easily achievable by the use of

Acid Activation

solar equipments. Solar energy may also replace electricity, if

sufficient free space is available within the plant. The process

Plating
Chromate Treatment
Drying
Packaging

Energy Consumption Scenario

Electroplating sector consumes around 0.118 Mtoe* of
energy every year. Energy is like a raw material for the
industry and its major uses are in heating of plating solutions
as the plating process itself i.e. the energy through rectifiers.

wise solar mapping is shown below:

Name of Application
the Process Media

Temperature Recommended
Required C
Solar Technology

Cleaning &
Washing
Plating

Hot Water

40-50

FPC

Hot Water

50-60

FPC / ETC

Post plating
treatment/
Drying

Hot Water

70-80

Solar Air heater

It is estimated that if all the thermal processes identified in the

study are substituted by solar energy, we can replace around
0.020 Mtoe of fossil fuels with solar energy.
*Energy consumption in the year 2007-08 as per ASI database.