India is deploying floating solar on its vast network of irrigation canals — generating electricity while preventing water evaporation in drought-prone regions.
India loses an estimated 30-40% of its irrigation water to evaporation annually — a staggering loss in a country where water stress affects hundreds of millions of farmers. The solution that Gujarat pioneered and the rest of India is now rapidly adopting: cover the canals with solar panels.
The Gujarat Canal Solar Project — the world's first canal-top solar installation — has been operating since 2012. Solar panels mounted on steel structures spanning irrigation canals generate electricity while simultaneously shading the water below — reducing evaporation dramatically in the intense Indian sun. The canal's flat, straight geometry makes installation straightforward. The canal's existing infrastructure — roads, access paths, measurement stations — reduces development costs.
The results have been striking enough that India's National Solar Mission has designated canal-top solar as a priority deployment pathway. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh are all developing canal-top solar programs across their irrigation networks.
The Narmada Canal System in Gujarat — one of the world's longest irrigation networks at 75,000 kilometers — has been identified as a site for up to 2,200 MW of canal-top solar. Covering even a fraction of the Narmada canal network with solar panels would generate billions of units of clean electricity annually while saving hundreds of millions of liters of irrigation water from evaporation.
Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy — 2024
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