India’s largest floating PV project comes online

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From pv magazine India

French floating PV specialist Ciel & Terre’s India arm has completed construction on a 14.7 MWp floating solar plant in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. The project was developed for Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC) Limited on a water surface located in its Thoothukudi plant.

“It is India’s largest installed floating solar plant as of date,” stated the company, adding that “while there are other projects of a bigger scale started in India, they are yet to reach the completion stage.”

The floating array relies on Ciel & Terre’s proprietary Hydrelio Equato floating platforms, which were manufactured locally. The plant was built with 37,632 solar panels with a power output of 390 W on a surface of 15.6 hectares.

Ciel & Terre India managing director Deepak Ushadevi said, “A captive project like this will benefit the industry from a competitive price compared to the grid, and we can replicate the same model on other industrial reservoirs such as steel, thermal, fertilizers, cement, chemical, etc.”

Over the years, Ciel & Terre has gained vast expertise and substantial experience in the installation of large-scale floating PV plants on artificial and freshwater reservoirs. “Our team has a thorough understanding of floating PV challenges and accordingly assisted our SPIC customer in the realization of the biggest floating plant in this country despite the Covid-19 pandemic challenges,” said Ushadevi. 

Ciel & Terre India commissioned its first pilot 452 KWp project at Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL), Cochin, in 2019. This was followed by a 5.4 MWp at Sagardighi thermal power plant in West Bengal last year. 

Currently, Ciel & Terre India is executing a mega floating project of 75 MWp in South India, which it expects to commission by October this year. The Hydrelio floats for the project are being supplied by Ciel & Terre India’s Kerala factory. 

Ciel & Terre International has also launched a global R&D center in Bangalore for innovative engineering and new product development activities. 

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