Industry · C&I · agri mill · September 2026
A mill is not a big house. Do not stack 6 kW boxes on a 40 kW load.
Day motors love PV. Night shifts need a generator or a serious hybrid. Net-billing means you size to the daytime kW, not to a 1:1 export dream.
Who this page is for
If the load is three-phase, start here.
Rice / flour / oil mill
Day motors + VFD. PV on shed roofs or ground-mount. Generator stays for shed. Battery only for PLC / lighting.
Factory / workshop
Compressors, welders, CNC. Peak kW sets the inverter, kWh sets the array. Do not size from last month’s bill alone — read the demand.
Cold storage / dairy
Compressors run long hours. Hybrid + LFP stack if the cold room cannot warm in a 3-hour shed. This is the expensive C&I product, and it is honest.
Warehouse, school, petrol pump
Lights + HVAC + pumps. 15–25 kW often still 3-phase. Petrol pumps want hybrid because the canopy cannot go dark.
Topology
On-grid, hybrid, or generator — pick from the shift pattern.
On-grid 3-phase
Huawei SUN2000 / Growatt 25–100 kW. Cheapest PKR/kW. Dies in a blackout (anti-islanding). Right when a diesel set already covers production. Export at NAEPP is a small credit, not the business case.
Hybrid 3-phase
PV + LFP (or generator inlet) + grid. Backup bus for critical motors / cold room / filling line. Battery kWh is sized from hours of shed, not from a catalogue “10 kW hybrid” sticker.
Off-grid / agri
Tube wells and remote sheds: PV + VFD, oversize array ~20%, battery only if pumping after dusk. See the tube-well calculator. Government agri solarisation is a separate file.
Sketch sizes
Not a WhatsApp SKU. A starting BOM.
| Class | PV | Plates (645 W / 710 W HJT) | Inverter | Battery | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small mill / large shop | 15–20 kW | 24–32 / 22–28 | 15–20 kW 3P hybrid or on-grid | Control room 5–10 kWh | ≤25 kW: DISCO file, no separate NEPRA license |
| Factory day PV | 25–50 kW | 40–78 / 36–70 | Huawei / Growatt 3P | Usually none | Cap at sanctioned load. Ground-mount if roof is asbestos / weak |
| Cold room / night line | 30–80 kW | quote | Hybrid 3P | 20–60 kWh LFP stack | This is where lithium belongs in industry |
| C&I 100 kW–1 MW | to sanctioned load | HJT 700 W fewer racks | Central / string 3P | Rare | PPIB installer, AMI meter, demand notice. Not a residential crew |
On-grid 25 kW hardware-only often lands ~Rs 2.0–3.5 million in 2026 street math before civil, HT, and DISCO. Hybrid + cold-room batteries is a different decade of capex. We quote from a load log, not a flyer.
Industry rules
What we will not install on a mill.
No 1-phase stack
Six Nitrox 6 kW boxes in parallel on a 3-phase mill is a service nightmare and a neutral problem. One 3-phase inverter (or a designed parallel set) is the product.
Motors want a VFD
Direct-on-line pumps and compressors punch the inverter. VFD first, then PV. Tube wells especially.
Do not pad kW for export
NAEPP ~Rs 8–13 vs industrial tariff still far higher. Self-consume the day shift. Sanctioned-load cap is the legal ceiling (max 1 MW).
700 W HJT is for tight roofs
Risen / Huasun 700–740 W means fewer frames and heavier iron. Check purlin rating. 645 W X10 is still the volume C&I plate.
Battery is not default
A 50 kW mill that stops at 5 p.m. does not need 50 kWh of LFP. Lights + PLC might. Cold storage might. Ask the shift chart.
Paper is the DISCO’s
Demand notice, AMI / green meter, earthing test, maybe PPIB. Shop SKUs for “industry net-metering” are not a filing.