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.
The project was supposed to be the world’s largest floating solar PV plant, but instead, it’s become a stark reminder of the limits of renewable energy and the dangers of prioritizing grand ambitions over practical realities.
Watch:
#Nature & #Narmad #River ‘s fury disrupts one of the largest floating solar panel plant on Omkareshwar #Dam reservoir which was being opposed by Fisher people for causing disruption to their fishing rights. Clip shared by @NarmadaBachao activist @iAlokAgarwal pic.twitter.com/Cvx5nSJ0Ku
— Nandini K Oza (@OzaNandini) April 10, 2024
🚨🇮🇳 Madhya Pradesh, India
Storm damages Worlds largest floating Solar Panel Farm.
If it’s not hail destroying Solar Panels then it’s storms – but sure keep thinking these things will help ‘make the weather better’. pic.twitter.com/WrK2XRCvCO
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) May 4, 2024
Cantaloupe, watermelon, alligator gar! Folks be talkin’ how dumb we is!
That’s a damn shame. Not only were the solar panels polluting the wates, most likely killing fish and other water mammals. Solar can be a good thing, but when they build enormous fields of solar they are doing more harm than good. I’m glad the storm has proven that this idea is full of crap. The engineer who thought of this should be fired.