India’s Largest Floating Solar Power Project

Context

India's largest Floating Solar Power Project, Ramagundam Floating Solar PV Project, commissioned by NTPC, is now fully operational in Telangana.

Ramagundam Floating Solar PV Project is a 100MW solar power project of NTPC, located in Ramagundam, Telangana.
It is endowed with advanced technology as well as environment friendly features.
The floating platform consists of one Inverter, Transformer, and a HT breaker.
It is Constructed with financial implication of Rs. 423 crores through M/s BHEL as EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contract.
The project spreads over 500 acres of its reservoir.

Divided into 40 blocks, each having 2.5 MW.
Each block consists of one floating platform and an array of 11,200 solar modules.

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

The entire floating system is being anchored through special HMPE (High Modulus Polyethylene) rope to the dead weights placed in the balancing reservoir bed.

It refers to the deployment of photovoltaic panels on the surface of water bodies.
These platforms are typically moored on calmer bodies of water, such as ponds, lakes or reservoirs.
They are a viable alternative to land-based solar arrays with applications in India.
There are a large number of major reservoirs in the Southern Region which provides a huge opportunity to go for renewable energy in the floating solar method.

Minimum land requirement mostly for associated evacuation arrangements.
With the presence of floating solar panels, the evaporation rate from water bodies is reduced, thus helping in water conservation.

Approximately 32.5 lakh cubic metres per year of water evaporation can be avoided.

The water body underneath the solar modules helps in maintaining their ambient temperature, thereby improving their efficiency and generation.
Similarly, coal consumption of 1,65,000 Tons can be avoided per year; Co2 emission of 2,10,000 tons per year can be avoided.