A 10 MW solar PV project has been commissioned on the Teesta canal bank of West Bengal under the Central Government’s scheme for Canal-top and Canalbank projects. This project is the first canal-bank project to be commissioned under the scheme. The Plant has been inaugurated by Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, on 23.08.2016 and commercial operation has started on 24.08.2016. Under the scheme for canal-top and canal-bank projects under the National Solar Mission, 100 MW capacity has been approved for implementation across 8 states. Apart from a 1 MW canal-top project that was commissioned in Andhra Pradesh earlier in the year, all other projects are under various stages of implementation.
MNRE’s 100 MW scheme of ‘Pilot-cum-Demonstration solar PV projects’ on canaltops and canal-banks projects, implemented by the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. (SECI), offers central financial assistance of upto 30 percent of project cost,for projects located on top of canals or on available land adjacent to canals. The scheme, launched in December, 2014, targets to make use of unutilized area above and beside the canals for solar power generation and also reduce water loss from canals due to evaporation. The 10 MW commissioned project, located between Mahananda Main Canal and Tailrace Channel of Teesta Canal Fall Hydroelectric Power Plant, is owned by the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL), and was developed at a cost of Rs. 63.79 Cr. Power from the project would be used by WBSEDCL for captive consumption.
