Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate the country’s largest 100 MW floating solar PV project of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Ramagundam in Telangana on Saturday. The project will be dedicated to the nation through virtual mode from New Delhi at 12 noon, according to NTPC officials here.
Spread over 600 acres of reservoir, the project will help avoid 4.36 million tonne of CO2 emission during its life time. The Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has successfully commissioned the largest floating solar PV plant and the project was declared commercially operational from July 1 this year by completing 20 MW of final part capacity.
The plant is installed across the natural raw water reservoir, saving valuable land resources, and also conserves water by reducing evaporation. Largest in the segment in the country, the 100-MW floating Solar PV Project at Ramagundam boasts advanced technology as well as environment-friendly features.
Built at the cost of ₹423 crore through BHEL on the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC mode) contract, the project has been divided in to 40 blocks and each segment has a capacity of 2.5 MW. Each block consists of one floating platform and an array of 11,200 solar modules.
The floating platform consists of one inverter, transformer, and a high-tension breaker. The solar modules are placed on floaters manufactured with HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) material.
With the focus shifting towards cleaner sources of power globally and the Government has set a target of 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 and hence the NTPC has also sharpened its focus on the renewable energy (RE). Accordingly, NTPC has also made plans for creating its renewables portfolio, which could be as large as the thermal portfolio and the renewable targets have been revised to 60 GW from 30 GW by 2032.
To achieve the set target, NTPC is setting up ground mounted solar PV projects, Floating solar PV, Wind and Hybrid projects. The floating solar projects have great potential to save water by way of reducing evaporation losses apart from producing green power. It is expected that the evaporation loss is reduced to the tune of 70%.
The Ramagundan project would save 2000 million liters of water per annum, which could be sufficient to meet yearly water requirements of approximately 10,000 households. NTPC has already commissioned 222 MW of floating solar projects and another 40 MW projects are in the construction stage.
