Telangana gets India's largest floating solar project

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dedicated 100 MW Ramagundam Floating Solar Project to the nation in Peddapally district in Telangana on Saturday.

This is considered to be India's largest floating solar PV project with 4.5 lakh 'Made in India' solar PV modules.

The Prime Minister inaugurated the project virtually at the launch of power sector's revamped distribution sector scheme which is aiming at improving the operational efficiencies and financial sustainability of the Discoms and power departments.

Constructed at a cost of Rs 423 crore through BHEL as EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contract, the officials said that the project was spread over 500 acres of NTPC-Ramagundam reservoir near the thermal power project.

The solar project is unique as all the electrical equipment including inverter, transformer, HT panel and SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) are fixed on the floating ferro cement platforms.

"The floating solar panels of the power plant would reduce the evaporation rate of water from the reservoir to an extent of 32.5 lakh cubic meters per year. The water body underneath the solar modules would also help maintain the ambient temperature thereby improving the efficiency and generation. It would also save coal consumption of 1.65 lakh tonnes a year and carbon dioxide emission to the tune of 2.1 lakh tonnes a year," NTPC officials said that the new commercial operation would help to increase the installed capacity of power generation in the Southern region.