CIEL & Terre India completes 73.4 MWp of India’s largest floating solar plant

Ciel and Terre India completed a world record installation of 73.4 MWp in 70 days, the fastest in floating solar history. This is also India’s first floating solar plant installed in brackish backwaters.

Ciel & Terre India, a subsidiary of French floating solar pioneer Ciel & Terre International, completed the plant engineering, supply, and installation of floats, anchoring, and mooring systems. They also finished a 73.4 mWp floating solar plant at National Thermal Power Corporation in Kayamkulam, Kerala.

The developer was NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation), and the turnkey EPC was the TATA group’s renewable energy arm, TATA Power Solar.

In a 4 in a row configuration, 1,69,641 ‘Made in India’ Hydrelio® aiR 1280 floats were mounted with 1,47,042 490/495 Wp TRINA solar PV panels. A total of ten 5 MW central inverters were used. The anchoring installation took a record-breaking 80 days to complete.

Twenty floating solar islands cover an area of 129 acres, accounting for 52.6 percent of the total water body.

The generated energy will be fed into the grid and used to power over 100,000 homes. The plant will reduce CO2 emissions by 9,26,71,427 tonnes.

Despite the COVID crisis, the patented Hydrelio® floats were manufactured and delivered in a record 5-month timeframe. As part of Ciel & Terre India’s contribution to the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Made in India’ missions, the floats were locally manufactured in their on-site manufacturing unit, which has an annual production capacity of 300 MW.

“This project is unique in that it is installed on the salty backwaters of the Arabian Sea.” Our thorough R&D has enabled our floats to withstand harsh, humid, and saline water conditions. We established our manufacturing unit near the project site in a record 5 months, and this strategic placement of the manufacturing plant has accelerated project deliverables and ease of logistics, as well as saved a significant amount on transportation, which we passed on to the customer. Moreover, despite the COVID crisis and extreme weather conditions such as heavy rain and wind, we completed the project in record time. Our success was built on assessing, adapting, and building momentum.

A strong sense of purpose is essential, especially during times of disruption and uncertainty, such as the lockdown, COVID-19, raw material shortages, commodity inflation, and so on.

Our efforts were fruitful because passion and perseverance made this project a reality. We strategized and streamlined our installation process accordingly as we transitioned from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset throughout all challenges, allowing us to complete the project on time. Site specifications were fully validated to the core of design suites to eliminate those challenges, as high humidity and saline conditions were prone to corrosion.

We hope that these project strategies will change the industry’s current view of floating PV and encourage them to believe that floating solar is a more sustainable, viable, and simple alternative to other conventional renewable energy sources. “Floating solar has a greater impact on the economic/environmental/social sectors than other traditional renewable energy models,” says Deepak Ushadevi, MD & CEO of Ciel & Terre India.

Ciel & Terre India previously completed three distinct floating solar projects in Kerala, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu, with capacities of 452 kWp, 5.4 MWp, and 14.7 MWp, respectively. Ciel & Terre India has added six projects to its portfolio in the last four years, totalling 115+ MWp and avoiding over 12,940,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Ciel & Terre has a decade of experience, extensive research and development, a sustainable approach, and the promising Hydrelio®, which is leading the Indian floating solar revolution.