An announcement in this regard was made by NTPC southern region executive director CV Anand during a virtual press conference in Hyderabad, Hindustan Times reported.
“These floating solar projects are coming up at Ramagundam power project (100 MW), which will be single location largest floating solar plant in the country as of now. NTPC also has a 92MW floating solar project that is planned to come up in Kayamkulam kayal in Kerala state. In addition, we are setting up a 230 MW ground mounted solar power plant in Ettayapuram near Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu by next year,” CV Anand, Executive Director, NTPC Southern Region said.
The NTPC release pointed out that NTPC has significant presence in Southern Region with a total installed capacity of 9125 MW through Coal, Gas/Liquid Fuel and Solar PV, including 1500 MW through JV NTECL Vallur.
The 100 MW floating solar PV project at NTPC Ramagundam will be spread over 450 acres water surface area in the reservoir and will have Rs 430 crore project value.
Explaining the context in which these floating solar power plants are being set up, he said, that NTPC is utilising the water bodies/ huge reservoirs set up for the power plant to set up these floating solar units. “We had successfully completed pilot projects at Kayamkulam (100 kWh) and Kawas (1 MW) and are now implementing large projects. For a ground mounted plant, we require about 5 acres for one MW,” he said.
NTPC had installed a 100 kWp pilot floating solar plant at Kayamkulam. The Indian power conglomerate also has a 1 MW floating solar power plant in Surat district of the western state of Gujarat.
