Compact hybrid switchgear powers one of India’s large-scale solar farms
Customer Story | 2 min read
Summary
In 2013, Tata Power embarked on a mission to harness solar energy in Mangalwedha, Solapur, one of India’s large-scale renewable projects for its time. The company partnered with Hitachi Energy and deployed its innovative Plug and Switch System (PASS hybrid switchgear) to ensure efficient and reliable grid connectivity.
This collaboration marked the first-ever PASS units manufactured at Hitachi Energy’s newly established Savli factory in India. The project not only accelerated India’s renewable energy ambitions but also showcased how locally manufactured advanced technology can enable sustainable progress.
Challenge
The project required a compact, reliable, and rapidly deployable substation solution to meet tight commissioning timelines. The project also faced land limitations typical of solar installations and demanded equipment capable of long-term performance with minimal maintenance in a remote location.
Solution
Hitachi Energy supplied four PASS hybrid switchgear units, a technology that combines the strengths of both air-insulated switchgear (AIS) and gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) into a single, modular system. Key advantages include:
Up to 50% reduction in space requirements compared to conventional AIS
Rapid installation enabled by minimal civil work
Gas-insulated, metal-encapsulated reliability ensuring consistent performance
Low-maintenance design delivering long-term operational value
All units were engineered and delivered from Hitachi Energy’s Savli factory, underpinning India’s capability to produce world-class high-voltage solutions locally.
Impact
More than a decade later, the PASS hybrid switchgear continues to operate with outstanding reliability, unaffected by Solapur’s high temperatures and dust-laden conditions. Integrating the breaker, disconnector, and earthing switch into a single metal-encapsulated housing protects all active parts from environmental contaminants.
This substantially reduces the risk of dielectric breakdown or phase-to-phase faults. This reliability is especially critical for remote solar plants where even a single outage can lead to significant loss of revenue from unharvested energy.
For Tata Power, transitioning to PASS technology helped reduce maintenance needs in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Unlike AIS, which typically requires frequent insulator cleaning and mechanical lubrication in harsh locations, PASS units are virtually maintenance-free. Having a gas-insulated core has avoided significant routine maintenance activities over the past decade. This has substantially lowered O&M (Operations and Maintenance) costs and minimized the need for specialized personnel to travel to the remote site, keeping operations lean and cost-efficfient.
Today, the PASS units continue to operate flawlessly, enabling uninterrupted solar power transmission to the grid. The success of this project strengthened Tata Power’s renewable portfolio and showcased the reliability, scalability, and sustainability of Hitachi Energy’s “made in India, trusted globally” hybrid switchgear technology.
Partnering with Hitachi Energy for our Mangalwedha project was a game-changer. We needed a solution that met our stringent timelines and space constraints while delivering compact design, long-term reliability, and future-readiness. Hitachi Energy’s PASS units have consistently delivered for over a decade. This collaboration helped us energize our solar vision with confidence and set a benchmark for future renewable projects.
Our mission is to accelerate the energy transition with innovative, locally manufactured solutions. Delivering the first PASS units from our Savli factory for Tata Power’s solar project was a milestone achievement. Tata Power is a name synonymous with trust, and we are proud that our PASS units continue to power that trust more than a decade later.
