India Plans To Build The World Largest Floating Solar Farm

Image by Chesky @ShutterstockThe National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), which is setting up the 50 MW solar power project, is currently undertaking a survey of the land on the banks of the Kallada river and hopes to place solar panels over the water bodies spread over nearly 250 acres in the region.This floating solar power technology was developed by India's Renewable Energy College. World's biggest floating solar farm will be built in kollam, Kerala. A state which is blessed with 44 rivers and equal number of lagoons.But the state faces intense energy needs.The 250 acres where the proposed plant is to be set up was once a beautiful terrain through which river has flown with all her turbulence. And then the land mafia came and mined all the sand for the construction purpose. The flow became unbalanced and the terrain becomes flooded. For all these years residents of the place have found a sparking idea to meet the power requirements for about 50000 homes. Solar panels have to be floated on the water and they need to be anchored firmly on the ground to avoid their motion on the surface of the water.It is estimated that 5 acres of land are required to produce 1 megawatt of solar power. The Kollam solar project would require 250 acres. 100 million project will be implemented in the next 2-3 years. The infrastructure and unit cost for floating solar panels is way less compared to land installed ones. The ecology of the water body is not likely to be affected much and it will also reduce evaporation, thus helping preserve water levels during extreme summer. Solar panels installed on land face reduction of yield as the ground heats up. When such panels are installed on a floating platform, the heating problem is solved to a great extent. Currently the world's largest floating solar power plant is located in Japan, where a 1.2 MW float power plant was set up by West Holdings Group over a reservoir in Okegawa City.Thank you Likeswagon for providing us with this information

Origin: renewable-technologies.blogspot.com