Kerala Floods Spare Wayanad’s Floating Solar Power Plant

The KSEB’s floating solar plant at Banasura which survived kerala floods was the largest floating solar power plant in the country until August 23 when the 2MW floating solar project commissioned in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh displaced it.

The Banasura Sagar Dam floating solar power plant in Wayanad has survived the recent flood ravage in Kerala bearing heavy rains and strong flood waves.

KSEB officials said that though they feared that the 500 kWp (kilowatt peak) project floating on 1.25 acres of water surface of the reservoir could get submerged due to the presence of strong waves in the reservoir, the structure has stood its ground and continue to generate electricity.

“We had real concern about the floating solar plant as the waves were as high as 40-50cm, especially on August 8 and 9. But the floating structures have withstood the kerala floods fury,” said P Manoharan, assistant executive engineer (research and dam safety sub-division) at Banasura Sagar.

Speaking to TNN, Chairman, Adtech Systems, M R Narayanan said, “The project was designed to withstand the water level variation of up to 20 meters between summer and monsoon in the reservoir. But with the heavy inflow of water to the reservoir, the variation level was up by around four feet above the design parameters. But the system withstood the Kerala floods conditions.”

The KSEB’s floating solar plant at Banasura was the largest floating solar power plant in the country until August 23 when the 2MW floating solar project commissioned in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh displaced it.

Source: TNN