Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), the highest floating Solar EPC player in India, has commissioned a 5.4 MWp solar plant in West Bengal, India. The plant has been commissioned for the West Bengal Power Development Corp. Ltd (WBPDCL).

Built upon a raw water pond (number 3) at the Sagardighi Thermal Power Project owned by WBPDCL in the Murshidabad district. French Floating PV experts Ciel and Terre finished the engineering, anchoring and mooring, float supply, and supervision of the 5.4 MWp solar plant.

The plant uses a solar array including 16,880 number of 320 Wp BHEL-make PV modules across an area of 10.22 hectares.

Regionally generated Hydrelio Equato floats under the Make in India campaign are used to hold the panels.

WBPDCL has issued tenders for two floating solar projects—10 MW at Sagardighi thermal power plant and 5 MW Singareni thermal power plant, following the successful commissioning of the 5.4 MWp floating solar plant.

Ciel and Terre commissioned its first 452 KWp project at CIAL Cochin in 2019, followed by establishing a 14.7 MWp floating solar project in May 2021.

Currently, it is executing a 75 MWp mega floating project in South India, with Hydrelio floats manufactured at the Kerala factory. This year, the firm also launched a worldwide R&D centre in Bengaluru for innovative engineering and new product development projects.

Deepak Ushadevi, managing director of Ciel and Terre, said that the 5.4 MWp solar plant would provide competitively priced electricity to nearly 1,000 houses and avoid more than 5,838 tons of carbon emissions.

WBPDCL can save over 48 million litres of water from evaporation, which can be used for cooling water needs in the summers through this solar plant.

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Also read: Deepak Ushadevi, Managing Director, Ciel & Terre India