KALPETTA: The power generation through the solar panels of Banasura Sagar dam in Wayanad is literally electrifying. A total of 10,72,768.1 kW power has been generated from the floating solar panels of the dam till December 2020. Another 99,210 kW was produced from the roof-top panels.
First, the rooftop solar panel was commissioned in 2016 with a capacity of 440 kW. Three years later, floating panels were set up with a capacity of 10 kW. Later, it was enhanced to 500 kW. “A total of 17 hollow concrete blocks of solar panels have been floating in the water.
Three of them are of 23-m length and 15-m breadth. Other blocks are slightly small,” said P Manoharan, assistant executive engineer (AEE) KSEB Thariyod Dam Safety sub-division. The highest quantity of solar power produced from Banasura was on February 17, 2017 — 2,493 kW.
Floating solar panels thought up by students
The idea of floating the solar station was suggested by two BTech students from Wayanad — Ayaj Thomas and V M Sudheen – to KSEB in 2015. The idea was the fruit of brainstorming on eco-friendly power generation methods. The generated power is supplied to the KSEB main grid at 33 KV sub-station in Padinjarathara. A total of I9.25 crore was the project cost, of which I7 crore was from the state’s Innovation Fund and the rest availed through Nabard loan. I4.3 crore was the cost for setting up the rooftop panels