MARCH 23, 2021
Featuring the best of ‘Made in Italy’, leading solar manufactuer FIMER installs its PVS-100-TL inverters in a new Photovoltaic (PV) rooftop system designed to bring efficiency and energy self-consumption to the Turin headquarters of the historic writing and drawing materials company.
Across the world, countries are facing increasing pressure to reduce their carbon footprint, slow down climate change, and protect the environment for future generations. Globally, China, the U.S. and Brazil continue to lead the charge when it comes to renewable energy capacity1, however amongst these big players, Italy is setting a new standard when it comes to committing to a cleaner future, with the country accounting for 11 percent of all renewable energy consumed within the European Union2.
One Italian company who is committed to this pledge is Carioca, who has joined forces with FIMER to develop an impressive project of energy independence that will secure a new, more efficient and decarbonized future.
Carioca’s mission is fundamentally linked to next generations: “As suppliers of tools for design and creativity, we want to accompany young people in the development of a sustainable conscience”, explains Luciano Mauro, Operations Director of Carioca. “We decided to do it through a 360° green path, which applies to both our company ideas and strategy. Starting with the choice of using recycled plastic in products and packaging, we ended up with utilizing renewable energy sources.”
Carioca installed a PV system on the roof of their headquarters in Turin, designed and built by EPC IM-EL Osasio, and in order to meet the challenging requirements of this project, high-performance solutions in terms of energy productivity, reliability over time and ease of installation were key elements of the project. Based on this, FIMER inverters were the ideal choice, being characterized by efficiency and smart functionality for monitoring and optimizing the plant.
“Carioca’s project confirms and strengthens our vision”, comments Filippo Carzaniga, Chairman of FIMER. “Our goal is to respond to the growing energy needs by promoting Made in Italy for photovoltaics. We are leading the way to a new and more sustainable future, that uses solar energy to promote self-consumption and efficiency. This creates concrete benefits for our customers and people all over the world.”
Carioca’s new green footprint starts with self-consumption, with the aim to make the energy-intensive head structure more efficient. The company consumes about 3.5 million kW per year and hopes that the new PV system will allow them to cover about 15 percent of the total energy usage of the site.
FIMER’s PVS-100-TL string inverters represent the best solution to maximize the return on investment in large decentralized applications either ground-mounted or on the roof, as in the case of Carioca. The configuration with 6 MPPT inputs guarantees greater versatility and capacity to the system, ensuring optimized energy collection even in the presence of shading.
The 1,248 new PV panels join five FIMER PVS-100-TL inverters with 6 MPPTs, located on the roof in a special container cabin. The system covers an area of approximately 2,570 square meters with a 500 kW PV field, giving rise to one of the largest commercial solar installations for self-consumption purposes in the area.
For a solar plant of this size, having the ability to monitor individual strings and overall performance is essential. FIMER’s latest technology allows Carioca to collect data and make it available at a glance through its innovative Energy Viewer app. FIMER technologies also allow proactive control and management of the photovoltaic system through the Aurora Vision platform. Remote monitoring, parameter setting and firmware updating further reduce operating costs of the solar plant.
The wireless connection to any mobile device, also facilitates the setting for the inverters and PV system as a whole, and simplifies configuration of multiple inverters, allowing Carioca to achieve its production and self-consumption objectives.
Each year, it is estimated that the plant will generate approximately 524,000 kWh of clean electricity and mitigate 278,244 kg of carbon dioxide emissions. As a result, the solar system covers 15 percent of the energy needs, resulting in significant savings on Carioca’s electricity bill.
1 https://www.statista.com/statistics/267233/renewable-energy-capacity-worldwide-by-country/
2 https://www.italymulticentreholidays.co.uk/blog/italy-leads-the-way-in-renewable-energy/#:~:text=This%20study%20found%20that%20Italy,already%20hitting%20its%202020%20targets
For more information, please contact:
FIMER S.p.A
e-mail: media.relations@fimer.com