Andhra Pradesh gets a new floating solar power plant on Meghadri Gedda reservoir
Solar plants or solar farms can be either ground-mounted or set up on the surface of waterbodies. Though these floating farms are a bit more expensive than the traditional ones mounted on land surfaces, there are advantages as well.
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Floating solar power plant at Meghadri Gedda reservoir in Visakhapatnam. (Photo: ANI)
A floating solar power plant was Friday commissioned at Meghadri Gedda reservoir in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC).
G Lakshmisha, Commissioner of GVMC, told news agency ANI the power plant can produce 4.2 million units of power each year, and has been started on 12 acres of area. “Besides that, we’re also saving 54,000 tonnes of coal per year and reducing emissions by 3,022 tonnes per year,” he added.
#WATCH | Andhra Pradesh: A floating solar power plant commissioned by Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) on Meghadri Gedda reservoir in Visakhapatnam (22.07) pic.twitter.com/awAhT0w7t7
— ANI (@ANI) July 22, 2022
The commissioning comes weeks after India’s largest floating solar plant became operational at Ramagundam in Telangana’s Peddapalli district. The 100-megawatt (MW) floating solar power photovoltaic project was commissioned by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), the country’s foremost public-sector power generator.
According to an official release, the 100 MW floating solar plant spread over 500 acres of the NTPC’s reservoir at Ramagundam was built at a cost of Rs 423 crore through Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited on an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract.
Solar plants or solar farms can be either ground-mounted or set up on the surface of waterbodies. Though these floating farms are a bit more expensive than the traditional ones mounted on land surfaces, there have advantages as well.
At a time when large tracts of land are unavailable, floating farms do not require land to be acquired for the installation of photovoltaic panels. They are more efficient as the presence of water underneath helps them keep cool. They also reduce water evaporation, thereby saving more water for hydropower generation.
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