Floating solar power plant slowly moves closer to reality in Lower Manair-Telangana Dam today

The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has already prepared the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for setting up a 300 MW solar power plant on the Lower Manair Dam.

Hyderabad: As part of the State Government’s plan to explore opportunities for floating solar power plants in major reservoirs and pumped storage hydropower generation to meet the State’s growing energy needs through renewable resources , steps are being taken to set up a 300 MW Floating Solar Power Plant on Lower Manair Dam in Alugunur village of Thimmapur Mandal in Karimnagar district.

The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has already prepared the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for setting up a 300 MW solar power plant on the Lower Manair Dam.

Delhi-based Power and Energy Consultants Limited has been entrusted with the task of preparing a pre-feasibility study for setting up a 300 MW floating solar power plant on the water of Lower Manair Dam at a cost of Rs 4,000,000. 1,640.66 crore and DPR for setting up 500 megawatt (2X250 MW) floating solar power plants on the reservoir of Mallanna Sagar.

The company has reportedly sought permission from the state government to undertake construction work on the reservoir.

While the entire reservoir has an area of ​​81 square kilometers, it is learned that Singareni is preparing to set up a factory in around 9 square kilometers.

The DPR would have been designed in such a way that even when minimum water levels are maintained in the dam, the solar panels remain in the water. The LMD floating solar power project is likely to cost around Rs. 4,000.3,000 billion.

Singareni commissioned its first floating solar power plant with a capacity of 5 megawatts last January. The floating solar power plant was installed at a cost of Rs.26 crore on the reservoir waters of the company’s 2 × 600 MW thermal power plant at Pegadapalli in Jaipur mandal in Mancherial district.

Local fishing communities fear that installing solar panels will disrupt aquatic ecosystems, reduce fish populations and ultimately deprive them of their main source of income and livelihood.

However, officials claimed that as the solar power plant would be installed in only 10 percent of the reservoir area, fishing would not pose any difficulty.