After much hesitation, tanneries in the Ranipet-Ambur-Vaniyambadi region have started taking baby steps to tap into solar energy to run automatic sprayer driers, vital for drying the processed leather, in their factories to cut down on the bi-monthly power bills.
A group of tannery owners came together at Overseas Leathers, a manufacturer and exporter of finished leathers, in the SIPCOT Complex in Ranipet on Wednesday to have a first hand experience of the operation of solar air heaters at tanneries. A Theni-based solar energy company, SunBest, provides technical support for these heaters.
At present, the leather-making region covers Ranipet, Walajah, Vellore, Ambur and Vaniyambadi. More than 500 tanneries are located in the region, with Vaniyambadi alone accounting for around 40% of the total number. Most of the tanneries are coal- or thermal energy-based factories, emitting greenhouse gases. Thermal energy accounts for around 55% of the total energy consumption for leather-making.
At the micro level, each drier at a leather unit consumes 20-25 units of electricity per hour. A tannery, on an average, runs at least three driers. In other words, around 600 units of power is consumed by the tannery every day. Officials said the power cost could be saved by switching over to solar energy. “Except during heavy rain, solar air heating panels can generate power to run driers. There won’t be any fluctuation in solar power,” says C.P. Rajkumar, CEO, SunBest.
Hans Raj Verma, CMD, Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation Limited (TIIC), and Ranipet Collector D. Bhaskara Pandian urged the leather manufacturers to go in for solar energy. They said Tamil Nadu has the highest radiation of solar energy that could be utilised for industrial growth.
However, the installation cost of solar air heaters remains a major challenge for the leather manufacturers, especially small and medium entrepreneurs. They want the government to subsidise the cost.
