in World News World’s Largest Floating Solar Power Plant Wrecked by Storm Just Before Grand Launch
The world’s largest floating solar power plant, located at Omkareshwar Dam in Madhya Pradesh, India, was obliterated by a storm on April 9, 2024. , just days before its scheduled grand inauguration.
The ambitious project faced the wrath of nature as strong winds reaching speeds of up to approximately 31 miles per hour tore through the installation, uprooting and severely damaging the high-tech solar panels that floated on the backwater of the dam.
This floating solar plant claimed to be the largest globally, represents a joint venture between the Madhya Pradesh Government and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), according to Lokmat Times.
“Omkareshwar Dam is built on the Narmada river. This is our hydel project and in this, we produce energy from water, but it is spread over about 100 square kilometers [38.6 square miles], there is a very large water body where the water level remains normal,” said Sanjay Dubey, Renewable Energy Department Principal Secretary.
A 600 MW floating solar project promised to significantly bolster the power generation capacity of the state. However, this ambitious experiment ended in a spectacular failure.