World´s largest floating solar to be developed in India

In a bid to produce green energy, the government of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has initiated a proposal to develop a 1,000 MW floating solar power plant on the Indira Sagar Dam in the municipality of Mundi in Khandwa district.

The solar array will be set up at a floating platform on the dam reservoir, reducing the cost of acquiring the land for it. The unique project will benefit the state in many ways. It will generate cheaper electricity on one hand and on the other hand the reduction of the evaporation of water will lead to water conservation and water quality increase.

The floating solar array of the Indira Sagar Dam would be the world’s largest. The world’s current largest floating PV array is a 150 MW project in Anhui, China.

Preliminary studies on the project have been done and currently the World Bank is preparing feasibility reports.

The project cost is estimated at INR50 billion (US$ 704,4 million) total. The government of Madhya Pradesh has agreed to offtake a 200 MW capacity from the facility.

Construction of the project is expected to start in about 8 months.

Madhya Pradesh is rich in natural resources for the production of renewable energy and it has established itself in a renewable energy sector. The state produces about 5000 MW renewable energy - that is one-fourth of the state´s electricity consumption.