What does a Panipat shuttle loom with a 1 horsepower motor use per metre of fabric?
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Panipat profile gives shuttle looms a 1 horsepower motor making about 2 metres of 90 inch fabric an hour. The nameplate output divided by output is 0.37 kilowatt hours a metre, 0.25 kilograms of carbon dioxide. Input is higher by the motor's efficiency; real draw can be below or above, so meter it.
What the profile prints
- The most common power looms are shuttle looms with an installed motor of 1 horsepower (hp). Output is about 2 metres of fabric, 90 inch width, an hour. Average operation is about 9 to 10 hours a day.
- Some units have moved to rapier looms with motors up to 3 hp. The profile says almost all shuttle-less looms in Panipat are imported second hand.
- It prints no kilowatt hours (kWh) a metre for looms, so any figure has to come from a meter.
The nameplate figure
1 hp is 0.7457 kilowatts (kW). Taken as a full hour at that rating, that is 0.7457 kWh over 2 metres: 0.373 kWh a metre, the nameplate output divided by output. At 0.675 kilograms (kg) of carbon dioxide (CO2) a kWh for financial year (FY) 2025-26 that is 0.252 kg a metre. A 90 inch cloth is 2.29 metres wide, so on the same nameplate basis it is 0.163 kWh per square metre.
A horsepower rating on a nameplate is shaft output, not electrical input. Input at full load is higher by the motor's efficiency (a motor at about 75 to 85% efficiency draws roughly 0.9 to 1.0 kW for 1 hp), a motor can run above its rating, and a loom may draw less than its rating for part of the shift. The number also leaves out lights, fans and humidification in the shed. Real draw can be below or above 0.373 and has to be metered. Our arithmetic from the profile's rated figures, not a measurement.
What a rapier loom has to beat
A 3 hp motor is 2.24 kW. As a nameplate comparison, to match the shuttle loom's 0.373 kWh a metre the rapier must weave 6 metres an hour, three times the shuttle loom's 2. Real draw on either loom differs from the nameplate, so this is a rough break-even only. The profile prints no rapier speed, so ask the maker for metres an hour at your fabric and meter both looms.
Getting a real figure
- Put a clamp meter or a sub-meter on one loom for a full shift and note the metres woven.
- Or take the shed's meter for a week with all looms running and divide by metres from the same days.
- Count first-quality metres sold, not metres woven.
One shuttle loom, nameplate basis
- Motor: 1 hp x 0.7457 = 0.7457 kW
- Per metre: 0.7457 kW / 2 m an hour = 0.373 kWh (nameplate output divided by output)
- CO2 per metre: 0.373 x 0.675 = 0.252 kg
- A 9 to 10 hour day: 18 to 20 metres, 6.7 to 7.5 kWh on the nameplate basis
- A 3 hp rapier to match on nameplate: 2.24 / 0.373 = 6 metres an hour
Inputs are TERI's 2014-15 profile figures; the arithmetic and the nameplate reading are ours.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads electricity bills into monthly records, so the shed's monthly kWh is on file, ready to divide by metres from your loom register. It does not meter looms, so a figure per loom needs a sub-meter.
Sources: TERI, Energy Profile: Panipat Textile Cluster (SAMEEEKSHA), CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 22.0
Last reviewed 2026-11-06. Loom type and speed in Panipat have changed since the 2014-15 survey. Measure your own looms.