The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is going to commission India’s largest floating solar power plant in May 2021.
The floating solar power plant of 100 MW capacity is being built in over 450 acres on the water surface of Sri Ram Sagar Project reservoir.
With a total cost of Rs 423 crore, this will be the largest floating solar plant in the country in a single location as of now, reports Hindustan Times.
“NTPC is utilising the water bodies and huge reservoirs to set up these floating solar units, because it requires huge expenditure for a ground-mounted plant. For setting up one MW solar photo-voltaic plant on ground, we require five acres,” said NTPC southern region executive director CV Anand.
“The NTPC has successfully completed pilot projects at Kayamkulam (100 KWH) capacity and Kawas (one MW). Now, we are implementing large floating solar plants,” he said.
Addressing a virtual press conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday (10 March), he said that the NTPC southern region has taken up setting up of solar power plants of the total capacity of 450 MW. Of this, 217 MW plants would be floating on water bodies. Apart from the 100 MW plant at Ramagundam, the corporation is setting up a 92 MW floating unit at Kayamkulam gas plant in Kerala and a 25 MW unit at Simhadri power plant in Visakhapatnam.
“NTPC is in the process of commissioning a 2×800 MW coal-fired thermal power project at Ramagundam in Telangana. The phase I unit of 800 MW will be commissioned by January 2022 and the phase II of 800 MW by March 2022,” he added.