Floating Solar Plants

At Ramagundam in Telangana's Peddapalli district, the country's largest floating solar power facility, spanning more than 600 acres, is now completely operational.

• To combat climate change, an increasing number of nations are converting to environmentally friendly ways of electricity production.
• In particular in nations with limited land, power generation technology using floating solar panels has proven to be an effective and quickly expanding method to sustainable energy.
• Japan constructed the first floating photovoltaic system in 2007.
• The first commercial installation, albeit a small one, debuted in California in 2008.
• In order to access renewable energy sources, India started the National Solar Mission in 2010.

• A TERI study conducted in conjunction with the Energy Transmission Commission India programme found that as of 2019, floatovoltaic facilities with a capacity of 2.7 MW were in service, while more than 1.7 GW were in various stages of construction.
• By 2030, the government wants to have 500 GW of renewable energy installed.
  
  
  

• A platform built to float on the surface of a body of water, such as a reservoir, lake, irrigation canal, or pond, is mounted with a network of floating solar panels, also known as photovoltaics or floatovoltaics.
• A floating solar plant typically includes a pontoon or floating platform, a mooring system to keep it anchored to the ground and prevent the panels from floating away, a photovoltaic system to produce electricity using thermal energy, and an underwater cable to connect the plant to a substation.
• These systems don't require land levelling or vegetation removal, are relatively quick to build, and operate quietly.

• It is equipped with advanced technology and environmentally friendly features.
• The project is spread over 500 acres of the reservoir. Divided into 40 blocks, each with a capacity of 2.5 MW.
• Each block consists of one floating platform and an array of 11,200 solar modules.
• Solar modules are placed on floats made of HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene).
• The entire floating system is anchored with a special HMPE (High Modulus Polyethylene) rope to the weights located in the bed of the buffer tank.
• This project is unique in the sense that all electrical equipment including inverter, transformer, HT panel and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) are also on floating ferrocement platforms.

India’s status on Floating solar project:

• Major commissioned projects:
  • Keyamkulam Project in Kerala with a capacity of 92 MW
  • Shimhadri Project in Andhra Pradesh with a capacity of 25 MW
• World’s Largest floating plan with a capacity of 600 MW is under construction on the Omkarehswar dam in Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh.
• Ramagundam project is the country’s largest floating solar power project

• Cost efficient: According International Energy Agency (IEA), solar energy is the cheapest source of energy.
• Less land usage: Land pressure is increased by the installation of solar panels on land or rooftops. On the other hand, there is no requirement for land to create floating solar farms. A water body that is not currently being used can have a solar farm built on its surface.
• Higher efficiency: Solar panels operate efficiently when kept cold. Floating panels with water beneath the panels acting as coolant, maintaining the temperature of the panels eventually reduces the energy loss and increases the efficiency by 15%.
• Water conservation: The solar panels floating on the water surface will reduce the evaporation rate and thereby help water conservation. At Ramagundam, approximately 32.5 lakh cubic metres per year of water evaporation can be avoided.
• Improving the water quality: Solar panels above the water surface will reduce the growth of algae in the water bodies, thus, improving the quality of the water.
• Reduction in coal usage: Coal consumption of 165,000 tons can be avoided per year.
• Reduction in carbon emission: Carbon dioxide emissions of 2,10,000 tons per year can be avoided.
  
  

  Key Facts: Floating solar panels have the potential to generate 400 gigawatts of electricity, which is enough to power 44 billion LED light bulbs for an entire year, if just 1% of the surface area of all artificial water bodies were covered in them. Artificial water bodies are easier to access and typically less ecologically sensitive than natural lakes. The biggest floating solar farm in the world right now is in Shandong, China. The facility produces 320 MW per hour. Interestingly, China has created opportunities out of abandoned coal mines by constructing floating solar farms in flooded places.

  
  
  
  

• Impact on Aquatic life: Solar panels over the water bodies can block sunlight, which may affect the aquatic life.
• Technical complexities of designing, building and operating on and in the water.
• Question of electrical safety in the water and its maintenance.
• Uncertainty about predicting future environmental issues.
• Uncertainty about surrounding costs.

Floating solar projects provides an edge over other source of energy and also over solar projects installed over land and rooftop. Implementing such ambitious project will help India to gain a global leadership in the renewable energy domain. Success of the project depends on the execution methodology and how government crosses the technical barriers and also how efficiently it can mitigate the future climate challenges.