The Canal Solar Power Project is a

solar canal A solar canal is a canal fitted with solar panels, increasing their efficiency, and reducing evaporation and land usage. The first operative system was installed in Gujarat, India in 2014. Benefits By placing solar panels above water, evaporat ...

project launched in

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, India, to use the long network of

Narmada The Narmada River, previously also known as ''Narbada'' or anglicised as ''Nerbudda'', is the 5th longest river in India and overall the longest west-flowing river in the country. It is also the largest flowing river in the state of Madhya Prade ...

canals across the state for setting up

solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

s to generate electricity. It was the first ever such project in India. This project has been commissioned by SunEdison India.

Inauguration of pilot project

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

, then Chief Minister of

, inaugurated a 1

Megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

(MW) pilot project on 24 April 2012. The project is situated on the Narmada branch canal near Chandrasan village of Kadi taluka in

Mehsana district Mehsana district (alternate spelling "Mahesana") is one of the 33 districts of Gujarat state in western India. Mehsana city is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district has a population of over 1.8 million and an area of over ...

. The pilot project will generate 1 MW of clean energy and also prevent evaporation of of water annually from the canal. The project virtually eliminates the requirement to acquire vast tracts of land and limits evaporation of water from the long canal. tackling two challenges simultaneously by providing energy and water security.

Engineering and construction

The engineering, procurement and construction contract for the project was awarded to SunEdison at a cost of . The pilot project was developed on a 750-meter stretch of the canal by Gujarat State Electricity Corporation (GSECL) with support from Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd. (SSNNL), which owns and maintains the canal network. The cost per megawatt of solar power, in this case, was much less than regular solar power plants, as the two banks of the canal will be used to cover the canal by installing solar power panel and the government did not have to spend much on creating basic infrastructure, including land acquisition . Gujarat has about of open main canal, while the total canal length, including sub-branches, is about at present. When completed, the SSNNL's canal network will be about long. Assuming a utilization of only 10% of the existing canal network of , it is estimated that 2,200 MW of solar power generating capacity can be installed by covering the canals with solar panels. This also implies that of land can be potentially conserved along with about 20 billion liters of water saved per year.

Praise for the project

Then Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy

Farooq Abdullah Farooq Abdullah (born 21 October 1937) is an Indian politician who serves as current president of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. He has served as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions since 1982 till 2002, and ...

praised Gujarat's Canal Solar Power Project saying, Abdullah said

Damodar Valley Corporation Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) is a statutory corporation which operates in the Damodar River area of West Bengal and Jharkhand states of India to handle the Damodar Valley Project, the first multipurpose river valley project of independent ...

, which has over of canals, will follow Gujarat's lead and mount solar panels that can generate up to 1,000 MW.

References

External links

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Solar PV Project on Narmada Canal in Gujarat to be inaugurated soon by Narendra Modi
{{coord missing, Gujarat Photovoltaic power stations in India Solar power stations in Gujarat 2012 establishments in Gujarat

Inauguration of pilot project

Engineering and construction

Praise for the project

See also

References

External links