The government of Maharashtra has set up a committee to examine the issues related to the development of a floating solar power project at the Ujani dam in Sholapur, according to PTI.

The committee will study the potential environmental impact of the floating solar project on the dam, which is one of the largest in Maharashtra. It will also monitor the monthly water level of the dam, any fluctuation in storage, dependency on dam water, energy production, and any maintenance costs of the project among other things.

“In order to set up solar projects, large flat lands are required usually. However, it is getting difficult to find so much empty land. Therefore, we explored the possibility of using the waterbed of Ujani dam to set up a floating solar power plant,” an official told PTI.

Satish Chavan, Director (Commercial) of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL), has been appointed as the head of the study committee.

One of the main reasons this dam was chosen for the solar project is its topography. The dam was built on flat land with shallow depth, making it easily accessible from many directions. With a capacity of 110 TMC and a wide waterbed, it is ideal for this floating solar project.

Earlier, Mercom reported that MSEDCL was in search of developers to build 1,000 MW of floating solar projects. As a first step, MSEDCL had invited an Expression of Interest (EoI) from prospective solar project developers to set up a 1 GW floating solar PV project on Ujjani Dam reservoir in the Solapur district of Maharashtra.

Floating solar projects becoming popular in the country due to lack of land to develop solar projects.

Recently, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) increased the capacity of recently tendered floating solar projects in the state of Uttar Pradesh from 100 MW to 150 MW.

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Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. More articles from Nitin Kabeer