KPI Green Wins 142MW Gujarat Floating Solar Deal

• KPI Green Energy clinches 142 MW floating solar EPC at Gujarat’s Kadana Dam, delivering design-to-O&M in 18 months—accelerating India’s water-based PV without land conflicts.

KPI Green Energy won a 142 MW (DC) floating solar EPC contract from Gujarat State Electricity Corporation to be built on the Kadana Dam reservoir. The scope covers design, procurement, installation, grid connection and a 10-year O&M agreement, with completion targeted in 18 months.

The deal underscores India’s pivot to water-based PV to ease land constraints, curb reservoir evaporation and tap underused infrastructure. It adds momentum to diversified solar deployment—floating, rooftop and modular—beyond traditional ground-mounted farms. If executed on schedule, the Kadana project could accelerate similar installations across dams and reservoirs, bolstering India’s renewable capacity without competing with agricultural or urban land.

How will KPI Green’s Kadana floating project influence India’s reservoir-based solar rollout?

• Establishes bankability for large floating PV on dam reservoirs, giving lenders and utilities confidence to scale a national pipeline.
  
• Creates a replicable EPC–O&M playbook for varying water levels, anchoring, mooring, and long cable runs to shore switchyards.
  
• Generates real-world performance data (yield gains from module cooling, soiling patterns, seasonal variability) to sharpen LCOE assumptions for future bids.
  
• Proves integration at existing dam substations, easing grid interconnection and reducing new transmission needs for follow-on sites.
  
• Accelerates hybridization with hydropower—co-optimizing daytime solar with peaking hydro—to deliver firmer, higher-value renewable supply.
  
• Drives standardization of technical specs (bathymetry surveys, wave/wind design, float materials, corrosion protection), streamlining tenders across states.
  
• Catalyzes domestic supply chains for floats, anchors, HDPE walkways, and specialized cabling, improving availability and lowering costs.
• Informs environmental and social safeguards (fisheries corridors, navigation lanes, avian impacts), enabling faster clearances for future reservoirs.
• Validates water co-benefits (reduced evaporation, improved thermal profiles near arrays), strengthening the policy case for reservoir siting.
• Encourages state utilities to ringfence dam surfaces for solar, reducing land acquisition risks and permitting timelines.
• Helps regulators refine O&M norms for waterborne assets (access, safety, electrical codes), cutting operational uncertainty.
  
• Attracts diversified financing—green bonds, infrastructure debt, blended capital—by demonstrating predictable revenues and manageable risks.
  
• Builds local skills and jobs around dam towns (marine installation, boat-based maintenance), improving community acceptance for expansion.
• Pressures component makers to offer long-warranty, UV- and biofouling-resistant materials tailored to India’s monsoon and heat cycles.
• Signals to central agencies to scale tenders on multipurpose reservoirs and canals, unlocking multi-gigawatt potential without competing for farmland or urban land.