NTPC-Ramagundam Is India's Largest Floating Solar Plant at 100 MW

NTPC-Ramagundam Is India’s Largest Floating Solar Plant at 100 MW

By Saur News Bureau/ Updated On Fri, Jul 1st, 2022

Highlights :

Unlike the 92 MW Kayamkulam floating solar plant which it displaces from the top perch, the Ramagundam plant is likely to retain its rank all through 2023, as other larger floating projects are still under execution.

Within days of the final commissioning of NTPC’s Kayamkulam floating project in Kerala with its 92 MW capacity, NTPC has commissioned the final 20 MW part of the 100 MW Ramagundam floating solar project wef July 1, 2022. That effectively means Ramagundam floating solar is the country’s largest floating solar project now, giving the Kayamkulam project barely a week at the top spot.

With this total Floating Solar Capacity in Southern Region also rises to 217 MW, way ahead of any other part of the country.

Earlier, NTPC had also commercial operation of the 25 MW Floating Solar at Simhadri (Andhra Pradesh).

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The 100-MW Floating Solar project at Ramagundam is endowed with advanced technology as well as environment friendly features. Constructed with financial implication of Rs. 423 crores through M/s BHEL as EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contract, the project spreads over 500 acres of its reservoir. Divided into 40 blocks, each having 2.5 MW. Each block consists of one floating platform and an array of 11,200 solar modules. The floating platform consists of one Inverter, Transformer, and a HT breaker. The solar modules are placed on floaters manufactured with HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) material.

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The entire floating system is being anchored through special HMPE (High Modulus Polyethylene) rope to the dead weights placed in the balancing reservoir bed. The power is being evacuated up to the existing switch yard through 33KV underground cables. This project is unique in the sense that all the electrical equipment including inverter, transformer, HT panel and SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) are also on floating ferro cement platforms. The anchoring of this system is bottom anchoring through dead weight concrete blocks.

From environment point of view, the most obvious advantage is minimum land requirement mostly for associated evacuation arrangements. Further, with the presence of floating solar panels, the evaporation rate from water bodies is reduced, thus helping in water conservation. Approximately 32.5 lakh cubic meters per year water evaporation can be avoided. The water body underneath the solar modules helps in maintaining their ambient temperature, thereby improving their efficiency and generation. Similarly, while coal consumption of 1,65,000 Tons can be avoided per year; Co2 emission of 2,10,000 tons per year can be avoided.