Banasura Sagar dam will now house a floating power plant spread across 1.25 acres of the reservoir. Minister M M Mani inaugurates the plant: Screengrab | ManoramaPadinjarethara (Wayanad): The country's largest floating solar plant was inaugurated by state power minister MM Mani in Banasura Sagar Dam reservoir on Monday.
There was a need for find more energy to power the state's growth and development, Mani said. Most of the electricity requirement of the state is met by purchasing power at a high rate. The state can't rely only on its limited capacity hydroelectric plants.
Kerala will have to look at solar and other non-conventional sources to generate power, and the state government and the electricity board are going ahead with several measures in this regard.
The solar power plant is spread across 1.25 acres in the reservoir. Built at a cost of Rs 9.25 crore using ferrocement floaters, the plant with a capacity of 500 kW (kilowatt) can generate 7.5 million lakh units of power a year. The power will be fed to the KSEB grid using underwater cables.
Installed on 18 floating platforms, the plant has 1,938 solar panels -- each with a capacity of 260 Watts, a 500 kWp (kiloWatt peak) transformer and 17 inverters of 30Kw capacity each.
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