n a first of its kind, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is gearing up for a 500-kilowatt floating Solar Grid Interactive Photovoltaic project in the Banasurasagar dam in Wayanad.
The Rs.10-crore pilot project will be implemented by Adtech Systems Ltd, a Thiruvananthapuram-based company, with technical support from Vatsaa Energy Pvt. Ltd, (VEPL) a young start-up in Wayanad that had worked to develop the technology.
The project involves erecting a concrete floating structure measuring 53,800 square feet on the reservoir to install a solar power plant with a rated capacity of 500 kW. The project is to feed the grid to be erected by the KSEB, S. B. Prince, Chief Public Relations Officer, KSEB, said. Close to 1,950 solar panels, each generating 260 watts, would be installed on the unique and indigenously developed floating structure.
The pilot project is a scaled-up version of a 10-kW concrete floating solar power plant that has been successfully installed in the reservoir a few months ago. The plant was developed by Ajay Thomas and V.M. Sudhin of VEPL. Kerala needs more than 24,000 million units of power a year and it buys about half of it from outside of the State at Rs.13 a unit, KSEB sources said. They added that the government has planned to procure three to five per cent of it from renewable energy sources.
“There are huge waterbodies in the State, including lakes and reservoirs. If those sleeping giants are to be utilised for power generation using solar panels, the power crisis can be tackled to a significant extent,’’ according to them.
When such projects are commissioned, the generation of hydroelectric power could be reduced during daytime and the water for the purpose can be used in peak hours, the source added.
The project is expected to be commissioned in about 10 months, the sources added.
Close to 1,950 solar panels, each generating 260 watts, would be installed on the unique and indigenously developed floating structure.
