Installation of a 1 MW system on several buildings belonging to a social institution

In the province of Milan, a long-established company in the civil and industrial plant engineering sector has installed a photovoltaic system with Kostal PIKO CI inverters. The special feature of this system is that a 1 MW plant is distributed across five different buildings.

A dual objective: installing a system on several buildings and reducing electricity bills
 

"The objective of the customer, a foundation in the province of Milan that takes in, cares for and supports children, adults and elderly people with complex or severe physical, mental and social impairments or disabilities, was very clear: to reduce high electricity consumption," explains the installation company, which has been active in the field of electrical engineering for many years and worked with the client to select KOSTAL's technical solutions for the realisation of this system.

The installation of the photovoltaic system was preceded by a phase of renovation of the roofs of the buildings concerned and the installation of new corrugated iron roofs. A total of five buildings are involved, with very different orientations, both to the north-west and north-east as well as to the south-west and south-east.
 

Advantages and economic savings of a system for own consumption

A photovoltaic system with a total output of 1,146 kWp was installed on the roofs of the foundation, fully equipped with KOSTAL inverters. The system was commissioned at the beginning of 2025.

The system is designed to produce around 1,300,000 kWh per year: it is estimated that the social and healthcare facility's own photovoltaic production will enable it to halve its annual electricity costs and thus become independent of the sharp fluctuations in energy prices in recent years. The financial savings can be estimated at several tens of thousands of euros per year.
 

KOSTAL inverters: control and optimisation of production even with different orientations

The heart of every photovoltaic system is the inverter. For the realisation of this system, 10 PIKO CI inverters with 50 kW each and 10 PIKO CI inverters with 60 kW each were selected.

The PIKO CI series inverters from KOSTAL, which are designed for commercial and industrial systems, optimally convert the photovoltaic energy generated by the modules into alternating current.

The project-specific requirement to control and optimise photovoltaic production in this particular context was met by the PIKO CI inverters, as they feature multiple MPPTs that enable optimised control of photovoltaic production from systems installed on multiple roofs with different orientations. But that's not all. ‘The configuration of the inverters was quick and intuitive, immediately enabling high photovoltaic energy production that exceeded expectations,’ the installation company continues.