National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Ltd has commissioned India’s largest floating solar PV project of 25MW capacity on the reservoir of its Simhadri thermal station in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. This is also the first solar project to be set up under the flexibilisation scheme, notified by the government in 2018.
The floating solar installation, consisting of more than 1 lakh solar PV modules, has a unique anchoring design and is spread over 75 acres in an RW reservoir. This would not only help to light around 7,000 households but also ensure at least 46,000 tonnes of CO2e are kept at arm’s length every year during the lifespan of this project.
The project is also expected to save 1,364 million litres of water per annum. This would be adequate to meet the yearly water requirements of 6,700 households.
The 2,000MW coal-based Simhadri Station is the first power project to implement an open sea intake from the Bay of Bengal which has been functional for more than 20 years.
NTPC is also planning to set up a hydrogen-based micro-grid system on a pilot basis at Simhadri.
With 71 power stations, including 29 Renewable projects, the NTPC Group has a total installed capacity of 66,900 MW. NTPC has set a target to install 60 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy (RE) capacity by 2032. NTPC is also India's first energy company to declare its energy compact goals as part of the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy (HLDE).
The group has over 17 GW of capacity under construction, including 5 GW of renewable energy projects. NTPC provides uninterrupted supply of electricity through environment-friendly energy projects at affordable prices.