Odisha Banks On Green Energy Through Floating Solar Power Parks

Odisha Banks On Green Energy Through Floating Solar Power Parks

The Odisha government has taken a firm step to counter the adverse effects of environmental pollution and climate change by increasing the state’s renewable energy output.

The Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha Limited (GEDCOL) and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) signed an agreement on Monday to set up a joint venture company (JVC) to develop floating solar power projects with a total capacity of 500 MW.

Set up under the aegis of the New and Renewable Energy Ministry’s Mega Renewable Energy Power Parks (UMREPs) scheme, the JVC will develop the projects in a phased manner in various reservoirs of Odisha.

Floating solar projects are the future of renewable sources of energy. In this, solar panels are installed on floating structures on water bodies like lakes, fjords, oceans and hydropower reservoirs. Since large patches of non-forest and non-agricultural land is limited in Odisha, a vast number of reservoirs can be utilised to construct floating solar parks. 

GEDCOL CMD, BP Sethi, said a floating solar project has an inherent advantage of the conservation of land and related cost to acquire and maintain the site.

Other advantages include the decrease of temperature-related losses due to cooling effect and reduction of water evaporation.

Sethi said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) will help the state in achieving the targets set under the Odisha Renewable Energy Policy, 2016 for setting up 2,200 MW solar and 550 MW non-solar renewable projects by 2022.

The state’s present installed capacity of renewable energy is divided between solar power at 362 MW and 77 MW from non-solar sources, he said. GRIDCO further procures 75 MW solar and 150 MW wind power from outside Odisha.

The state requires another 2,000 MW solar capacity (1,000 MW towards Solar Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) and 1,000 MW for Non-Solar RPO converted to Solar RPO) by 2020 to meet the RPO trajectory set by the New and Renewable Energy Ministry.

With an estimated Capex of Rs 2,500 crore, the incubation period for conceiving each special purpose vehicle (SPV) project would be around 7-8 months and the approximate completion time for each conceived project will be about 18 months. The first phase of the project is likely to be commissioned by March 2022.