India's nationwide hydropower giant signs pact for 500MW of floating solar PV in Odisha

• India's state-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) has actually signed an agreement with the Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha Ltd (GEDCOL) for the development of 500MW of floating solar projects in the eastern state of Odisha.

The joint venture (JV) will certainly develop a company to create 500MW of floating solar projects across different water bodies managed by GEDCOL in Odisha. The equity shareholding of NHPC and also GEDCOL in the proposed JV firm will be 74% to 26%, specifically.

An initial investment of INR2000 crore (US$ 270 million) will certainly be utilized in the initial stage of the project to create a 300MW floating solar plant in the storage tank of Rengali H.E. project, a huge hydropower website.

According to India's Ministry of Power, the project is the "first of its kind in Odisha and biggest in the country thus far".

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was authorized between NHPC and GEDCOL on 20 July 2020 regarding the projects.