Floating solar plants may hit financial viability hurdle

Efforts from state governments—such as those of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh—to develop floating solar plants may hit the financial viability hurdle. Industry officials say non-availability of the primary float structure in India make these projects expensive. Companies such as JSW Energy are planning to get into this business, while the Tatas and NTPC have already completed pilots. Limited domestic availability of floats, however, is a big challenge. The industry has to depend on European or Chinese suppliers, which are not cost effective.

The differential between groundmounted and floating solar does not make it viable in terms of product pricing, said Sharad Mahendra, executive vice-president of JSW Energy. The company has plans to set up a combined capacity of 250 MW floating solar capacity across various locations.

In June, the Maharashtra government said it has set up a committee for development of a floating solar plant. In Uttar Pradesh, bids have been called for developing a similar solar capacity, on the Rihand dam. These plans, however, may hit the financial viability road block. Floating solar plants are considered an alternative for tackling land availability issues. The concept involves setting up of solar panels on floats placed on dams, lakes and similar water bodies.

“Though the project cost has decreased of late, it still stands higher by 30-50% (depending on site condition) than that of a ground-mounted solar project,” said Pranav Master, director (energy and natural resources), Crisil Infrastructure Advisory. In addition to the cost of imported floats, the logistic costs involved in transporting them to India are seen as a bigger challenge. Float manufacturing has not yet started in India; the cost of logistics is an issue. “We are technically importing air, as floats do not take up weight but take up space,” said Anmol Jaggi, director for Gensol Group.

The group is currently consulting Maharashtra’s state power generation company for setting up 250 megawatt of floating solar capacity.

The country is yet to see bids submitted for a floating solar plant, from potential power companies.

JSW Energy will join the list of power producers like NTPC and Tata Power, who have already experimented with floating solar.