Factory solar in Shapar-Veraval, Kuvadva and Gondal

Shapar and Veraval: a private belt, not a GIDC estate

Shapar and Veraval are villages in Kotda Sangani taluka, south of Rajkot along the highway to Gondal. The industrial area grew on private plots rather than on land laid out by GIDC, so you will not find it in GIDC's estate tables. Do not mix it up with Veraval the fishing port in Gir Somnath district. This Veraval sits next to Shapar, and the two names are almost always said together.

The Ministry of MSME's industrial profile for Rajkot (with data up to about 2012) lists several larger firms at Shapar and Veraval: makers of auto components and transmissions, a three-wheeler manufacturer, plastic processing machinery, laminates, plywood, packaging, a textile mill and agro processing. Around them are many smaller job shops that machine, cast, fabricate and paint parts for the bigger plants.

Because the plots are private, roofs and ownership can vary from one building to the next: owner-run, leased, or split between tenants. That affects who signs the solar paperwork, so sort it out before anyone designs a system.

Induction furnaces and machine shops are very different cases

A casting unit with an induction furnace can draw more power in one melt than its whole roof could produce in a day. For such a unit, rooftop solar trims the bill but cannot carry the furnace. The useful question is how much of the daytime non-furnace load (compressors, sand plant, fettling, cranes, lights) the roof can cover.

A CNC or VMC machine shop, a gear or shaft line, or an assembly hall is the opposite. The load is spread evenly over a day shift or two, and a roof of a few hundred square metres can cover a good share of it. These units usually get the best result from solar in this belt.

Under GERC's rules, LTMD and HT solar is set off only against use between 7 am and 6 pm (over the billing cycle for LTMD, the same day for HT), so night shifts stay on grid power and the plant should be sized on daylight use.

Kuvadva GIDC on the Ahmedabad side

Kuvadva GIDC lies north-east of Rajkot city on the highway towards Ahmedabad. The MSME profile's estate table records it at 53.83 hectares with 285 plots, all allotted, as on 2012. Unlike Shapar, it is a GIDC layout with standard sheds on regular plots.

Regular plots make the survey simpler than in Shapar: the roof is usually one owner's, the orientation is predictable, and the drawings are on file with GIDC. Ask the installer to check purlin spacing and the condition of the sheet, because many of these sheds are now well over ten years old and a new roof under the panels costs far less before installation than after.

Gondal's two estates and its agro units

Gondal has two GIDC estates. As on 2012, Gondal GIDC-I covered 13.25 hectares with 98 plots and Gondal GIDC-II covered 32.71 hectares with 161 plots, with no vacant plots in either. The MSME unit lists put metal products and coatings units at Gondal, alongside agro processing such as edible oil and food units.

Agro processing is the part to watch. An oil mill or a grain unit runs flat out for part of the year and slowly for the rest, so a plant sized for peak season will push a lot of surplus to PGVCL in quiet months, and that surplus earns much less than power you use yourself. Give the installer twelve months of bills, not just the last two.

Which PGVCL office handles your connection

All of these areas fall under PGVCL's Rajkot Rural circle. Your bill names the sub-division that will inspect the system and change the meter after your installer applies online. Systems up to 10 kW skip the technical feasibility study under GERC's 2024 amendment, and bigger ones go through it within fixed timelines.

• Shapar and Veraval: Shapar-Veraval sub-division, Rajkot Rural division
• Kuvadva: Kuvadava sub-division, Rajkot Rural division
• Gondal estates: Gondal town and rural sub-divisions, Gondal division
• Kotda Sangani town and nearby villages: Kotdasangani sub-division, Gondal division