The first and largest floating solar project in the country on the Banasura Sagar Dam at Padinharethara in Wayanad has set a model in utilising non-conventional energy sources to tackle power crisis.

The project, under the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), was commissioned in December 2017. The board had spent ₹9.25 crore on the project, including ₹7 crore from the Innovation Fund of the State government and ₹2.25 crore as loan from NABARD.

Capacity

The project has the capacity to generate 7.5 lakh kilowatt hour (kWh) a year and it could generate 10,72,768.1 kWh till December 2020, P. Manoharan, Assistant Executive Engineer, (Research and Dam Safety sub-division) Banasura Sagar, told The Hindu.

The 54,450-sq ft plant, with 1,938 solar panels, each with a capacity of 260 watts, are installed on 18 indigenously developed floating structures, Mr. Manoharan said. Besides, 500-kVA (kilovolt ampere) transformer, 17 inverters, each with 30-kW capacity, a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to control and monitor power generation, and an anchoring system imported from Sweden to stabilise the plant on water are the constituents of the project. The power produced is transmitted to the 11-kV line of the KSEB, he said.

The KSEB has also installed a dam-top solar project, which has been generating five lakh units of power a year. As many as 1,760 solar panels, each with a capacity of 260 watts, have been installed on the road atop the dam at a length of 285 metres. The project was commissioned in August 2016. The KSEB had spent ₹4.293 crore on the project, which has generated 99,210 kWh power so far.