Solar panels in India - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 04:31:02 pm
content: The front-page story in today's New York Times business section is about increased production of solar panels in India.There is an interesting photograph showing a literally floating installation, with the PV panels floating on water inside a local breakwater dam.Unfortunately, the only mention of this installation is in the photo caption.Is this type of installation common? Is there any advantage in cooling?

author: fourtytwo42
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 09:40:24 am
content: Sounds like a very good place to put them unlike this ridiculous country where they keep putting them on good farmland stopping it's use for growing crops

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 09:49:55 am
content: TNO in the Netherlands has been researching this for a while now:https://www.tno.nl/en/sustainable/energy-supply/solar-applications/floating-solar-panels/Dutch test fields for this project:https://www.tno.nl/nl/technologie-wetenschap/laboratoria/fieldlab-drijvende-zonnepanelen/

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 12:32:26 pm
content: You guys mean this ?https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/storm-damages-worlds-largest-floating-solar-plant-in-madhya-pradeshs-khandwa-101712918754443.html

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 02:25:34 pm
content: That article reported storm damage in 2024.Apparently it is now repaired: does anyone have later news?

author: BadeBhaiya
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2025, 03:09:32 pm
content: Sounds like a stupid idea. Its not on the same level as solar freaking roadways or railways but its still stupid.To put solar panels in water, you must first deploy floaters with anchors, and then install the solar panels on top of them. Insulate everything well enough so that nothing shorts out in the middle of a lake.The only benefit I can think of is that there is no land to be acquired, so it must save quite a bit of money, and no legal trouble with farmers refusing to sell their land. Maybe the solar panels and microinverters get to stay a bit cooler thanks to the large water body but...eh I don't think so

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2025, 03:13:52 pm
content: Do you have any actual news about that installation?You stated several reasons why it might be a good idea.

author: BadeBhaiya
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2025, 03:27:47 pm
content: Nothing recent, last news from March 2025. It seems to be working fine, its still being rolled out in stages. 126MW is operational out of the total planned 600MW.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omkareshwar_Floating_Solar_Power_ParkSome pics herehttps://www.etnownews.com/infrastructure/omkareshwar-floating-solar-project-in-pics-sjvn-commissions-rs-646-cr-marvel-in-madhya-pradesh-details-article-112438555https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154067/floating-solar-in-madhya-pradeshhttps://www.pv-magazine-india.com/2025/05/13/ciel-terres-120-mwp-omkareshwar-floating-solar-project-features-many-firsts/

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 02:48:16 am
content: Quote from: fourtytwo42 on May 18, 2025, 09:40:24 amAside from "agrivoltaics" that allows solar power to coexist with farming, covering land with solar panels yields 31x as much energy per area as growing corn to make ethanol. That's not accounting for the electricity needed to process the corn into ethanol which would push the effective figure even higher.https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/04/new-study-compares-growing-corn-for-energy-to-solar-production-its-no-contest/

author: fourtytwo42
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2025, 06:09:23 pm
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on May 27, 2025, 02:48:16 amI should have used the word FOOD for that is what I surely meant by crops. I do not agree with wasting good agricultural land for any other purpose especially to replace perfectly viable hydro-carbon energy sources to satisfy the ego's of eco nuts.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2025, 04:35:35 am
content: Quote from: fourtytwo42 on May 27, 2025, 06:09:23 pmSo use solar panels instead of ethanol, that leaves a lot of land available for growing food. Or even better, phase out unhealthy and inefficient factory farming and replace it with sustainable organic farming.

author: BadeBhaiya
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2025, 09:01:27 am
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on May 29, 2025, 04:35:35 amYou don't want to open that can of worms.The truth is, humanity is helplessly reliant on nitrogen based artificial fertiliser for our food needs. The yield of "organic farming" although clean and sustainable, is so low that the amount of land farmed would need to grow considerably to keep the food output comparable. Humanity is literally a few hundreds of fertiliser factory closures away from mass starvation.There is the example of our neighbouring country Sri Lanka, they banned artificial fertilisers a while back to save money on fertiliser imports and tried to move to organic farming. It was their worst harvest season to date, with yields so low, it destabilised the entire country. Then they had to spend all he money they saved to import food anyway.I don't want to be an alarmist but its just something that barely anyone talks about online, even in prepper or other communities. Nitrogen fertilisers are single handedly keeping agriculture alive.Also an anecdote, I have noticed a lot of preppers are engineers, a disproportionate amount of them. And among them, EEs are still a majority. I can't fully figure this one out.