At-scale adoption of floating solar PV technology: The case of India

To achieve net zero targets, countries worldwide are focusing on scaling renewable energy. While India has made substantial strides in solar power capacity, the adoption of Floating Solar PV (FPV) remains limited. Despite apparent benefits, scaling FPV technologies presents several challenges including identifying suitable reservoirs for FPV implementation, and higher than ground-based solar PV costs. This study addresses these challenges and provides insights into the technological, financial and other related aspects for its at-scale adoption. To address the technological aspect of FPV adoption, this study develops a novel selection framework based on specific necessary and conducive conditions to select reservoirs suitable for FPV deployment in India. Applying this framework to a comprehensive dataset of 130 reservoirs in India, 17 reservoirs were identified. We also developed a reservoir ranking framework, to evaluate and rank the 17 identified reservoirs. The analysis revealed that while Almatti reservoir is the most suitable reservoir, Maharashtra emerged as the state with the maximum number of reservoirs, followed by Odisha. To address the financial aspect of FPV adoption, we carried out a levelized cost based economic assessment and found that LCOE for FPV systems ranges from INR 3.16–3.80/kWh which is much lower than the national average. Among the 17 reservoirs, FPV at the Tungabhadra reservoir has the least LCOE of INR 3.16/kWh. For reducing LCOE of FPV vis-à-vis ground-based PV systems, we suggest policies such as interest rate subsidy, capital expenditure subsidy and Generation Based Incentives. The study's framework and insights could be useful for countries with high FPV potential looking to scale up FPV technology.