India’s largest floating Solar Plant is now fully operational at Ramagundam, Pedapalli district in Telangana.

Solar Plants

• The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), also called the National Solar Mission (NSM), which inaugurated in January 2010, manifested the first time, the government primary focused being promoting and developing Solar Plant.

• As per the scheme, the total installed capacity target was set as 20GW till 2022. 

  • In 2015, the target was revised to 100GW and in August 2021, the government set a solar target of 300GW by 2030.

• In terms of installed Solar capacity, India holds 5th rank after US, China, Japan and Germany.

Floating Solar Panels

• These are Photovoltaic (PV) components launched on platforms that float on water reservoirs, lakes.

• These platforms are typically anchored on calmer bodies of water, such as ponds, lakes or reservoirs.

• These installations are relatively prompt to construct, hushed to run and require no land smoothening or removal of flora.

Highlights of Ramagundam Project

• It is equipped with advanced technology and Eco-friendly features.

• The project expands over 500 acres of the reservoir. Divided into 40 blocks where each having 2.5 MW.

• Each block consists of one floating platform and an display of 11,200 solar nodes.

• The solar modules are placed on floaters assembled with HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) material.

• The whole floating system is harbored through special HMPE (High Modulus Polyethylene) rope to the dead weights placed in the balancing reservoir bed.

• This project is unique and special in a way  that all the electrical equipment and tools including inverter, transformer, HT panel, and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) are also on floating Ferro cement platforms.

Environment Benefits of the Project

• Limited Land Required:

  • Referencing Eco, the most basic advantage is the minimum land requirement mostly for associated evacuation arrangements.

• Reduce Water Evaporation Rate:

  • Further, with the presence of floating solar panels, the evaporation rate from water bodies is minimized, which helps in water conservation.

  • Around 32.5 lakh cubic meters per year of water evaporation can be exempted.

• Reducing CO2 emission

  • These free floating Solar Plants will help in maintaining below water bodies temperature and hence maintaining carbon dioxide level enhancing efficiency and generation.

Similar Solar Energy Initiatives

• Solar Park Scheme

  • Plan to build various solar parks, each with a capacity around 500 MW, across several states.

• Rooftop Solar Scheme

  • To tackle solar power by installing solar panels on the roof of the houses.

• Atal Jyoti Yojana (AJAY):

  • The AJAY scheme was launched in September 2016 for the installation of solar street lighting (SSL) systems in states with less than 50% households engulfed with grid power (as per Census 2011).

Importance of Solar Power to India’s Commitment to Climate Change Mitigation

• Solar power is a crucial projection of India’s commitment to address global warming according to the terms of the Paris Agreement, also to achieve net zero carbon emissions, by 2070.

• PM Modi at the United Nations Conference of Parties meeting in Glasgow, in November 2021,quoted that India will be reaching a non-fossil fuel energy capacity of 500 GW by 2030 and encounter half its energy requirements via renewable energy by 2030.

• To enhance the renewable energy installation drive in the long run, the Centre in 2020 set a target of 450GW of RE-based installed capacity to be achieved by 2030, within which the aim for solar was 300GW.

The development and full functioning of the floating Solar Plant will largely help in reducing the land requirement with growing land population density. It is a great initiative to use water bodies as more resourceful way without affecting aquatic life. The floating solar plant will ensure less water evaporation as well maintaining efficiency of temperate water bodies.