A group of town-based budding engineers has come up with a thought-provoking idea of harnessing floating solar power generation technology for furthering the objective of Mission Kakatiya.
As many as nine B.Tech final year students of the town-based Swarna Bharathi Institute of Science & Technology (SBIT) designed a working model of a floating solar photovoltaic power plant under the supervision of their faculty members – Prof. G. Swaminathan and Prof. Sridharan.
The budding engineers demonstrated the prototype of a floating solar PV power plant at an exhibition held at SBIT on the occasion of the 12th annual day of the college, here on Saturday.
The mechanical engineering students enlightened visitors on the efficacy of green technology to produce clean energy. Their endeavour to promote green technology earned them accolades from SBIT president Prof. S. Pullaiah and other noted academicians.
Floating technology envisages the utilisation of water surfaces for exploitation of inexhaustible solar energy in an eco-friendly and cost-effective manner, says B. Nageswara Rao, a member of the students’ team that designed the working model.
“The system is perfectly suited for our rural set up. It can be harnessed at an optimum level to boost the rural economy, the ultimate objective of Mission Kakatiya,” he remarks.
The system offers multifaceted benefits as the solar panels installed on ponds and other water bodies are naturally cooled, resulting in improved power generation, says Prof. Swaminathan.
The solar panels shade the water, limit algae growth and help reduce evaporation besides facilitating cleaning, filtration, aeration and checking pollution. The modules are suitable for ponds and lakes in the villages and can generate revenue for the gram panchayat, he asserts.
The system utilises a buoy made of wooden structure with foam to form a platform over which the solar panel housing battery, charge controller, inverter and electrical wiring is integrated. The 100-W solar panel with battery storage is sufficient to provide 2,250 watts LED lighting for three hours.
