Indian renewable energy player ReNew Power Limited has secured the rights to develop a 3 MW floating solar power project for which the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has used part of proceeds from a grant by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), under the latter's Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund.
ReNew Power says the 3 MW project on Meghadrigedda reservoir in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, will be 'among the largest floating solar PV projects in India' once it is commissioned. Then, it is expected to generate around 4.2 million units of power annually.
It won the project in a competitive bidding process conducted by the GVMC. Talkinga about the potential of floating solar PV in India, ReNew Power's Head for Distributed Solar & offtake, Prabhat Kumar Mishra referred to industry estimates that claim if India's 10% to 15% water resources are used to set up floating solar power plants, it could lead to generating up to 300 GW of power.
Recently, India's NTPC issued a tender for a minimum of 70 MW grid connected floating solar power plant at Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Plant in Kayamkulam, Kerala (see 70 MW Floating PV Tender By NTPC).
In April 2018, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd. (MSEDCL) launched a tender for 1 GW floating PV on Ujjani dam water reservoir (see 1 GW Floating PV Planned In Maharashtra).
The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) had sought interest from developers for 10 GW floating PV capacity in India that could be developed over the course of 3 years, in December 2017 (see 10 GW Floating PV Projects Tender In India).