In Talk With – Deepak Ushadevi, MD & CEO at Ciel & Terre India
Deepak Ushadevi, MD & CEO at Ciel & Terre India, in interaction with Power Insight, shared his views on his company’s contribution to the Indian floating solar segment and also threw light on market growth prospects, challenges, and opportunities…
PI: Your views on the current market scenario, government support, and opportunities in the Floating Solar sector space in India?
Deepak Ushadevi: India is currently witnessing a growing energy need, with scarcity in land, legal issues in land acquisition, disputes, infinite acquisition delays, and ground mount / roof-mounted solar are becoming challenging in recent times, the floating solar is the apt solution.
India has huge untapped potential for floating solar, I wish to see more renewable projects realized with Hydrelio solutions across the globe as well. Floating solar became a realistic market now and in high demand here in India considering water scarcity, land issues, and we have plenty of water bodies with power infrastructure already available.
We consider India will be the biggest market for floating solar worldwide and therefore we are investing in new assets to provide our latest designs in a large scale. We believe the floating solution will be one of the main enablers for the PV sector. Add to that the Indian government has set an ambitious target of 10 GW floating solar installation by the year 2022, in that perspective, we should be able to achieve 1 GW positively by 2022.
From govt support perspective, we look forward for a more stable policy regime from both Central and State Governments wherein incentives for renewable energy are clearly defined and disbursed. States need to ensure that developers are not troubled each time there is change in government.
Central Govt needs to act as guarantor for all power projects which are underwritten with State Discoms. This will ensure that even if state defaults, Central Govt can step-in. Consider renewable energy lending as a separate book and not to club with overall energy sector exposure (as a significant part of lending by Banks/NBFCs is for thermal/hydro and non-renewable energy-based companies)
While selecting the floating technology, these aspects should look for: Proven solutions, Quality driven solutions, good international standards to be incorporated for floating solar projects.
PI: In context to India, are there any challenges on the way that need to be dealt with for smooth growth of this market?
Deepak Ushadevi: Underestimate the floating solar is another factor that must be addressed. The primary challenge is that the floating solar projects are for 25 years.
All others come second, unlike ground mount, floating solar must keep the fundamental techniques intact, each site should have different designs depending on the topography of the area. There should not be a replication of the project. The variation in the water level and the undercurrent of the water also poses challenges, especially when it comes to anchoring and moving the floating platforms.
A proper study of the topography, good knowledge of engineering techniques, and bathymetric study would be able to solve some of the problems faced by the developers. Bathymetric, SPT, Wind speed, Wave analysis, should be considered while making a design suit. Site visit before design and site surveys to undergo the bathymetry, soil composition analysis should be done foremost.
Considering all these aspects, we constantly strive to improvise our technical knowledge, implementing Innovative product development programs, looking to accelerate lean engineering programs for compatible solutions, endeavouring a sustainable quality deliverable, streamline vendor development to lower the cost in this Indian price-sensitive market.
Henceforth quality is paramount to protect the asset for 25 years at least.
Ciel Terre collaborates with many leading expertise for wind resistance, Wave and current resistance, mechanical resistance, floatability, UV resistance, Drinking water compliance, Temperature resistance.
Ciel Terre certifications are received from accredited world-class laboratories, such as ONERA French Aero Space, ARMINES Europe Research, Valuetec, centre for innovation & Technologies, FRANCE. Ciel Terre international has collaboration with Principia, a leading offshore player to implement & integrate wind and wave design with cost-effective solutions.
Ciel Terre Solutions are verified by Bureau Veritas for the floating structure standards, compliance & good engineering practices.
PI: How do you look at the future growth prospects of the Floating Solar Market in India?
Deepak Ushadevi: In a country like India with a large population, limited land space, and growing energy needs, floating solar turns out to be the perfect answer. A lot of developers and government sectors are opting for floating solar.
Ciel & Terre® has been distributing its solution and developing floating PV plants for commercial, industrial, and local government institutions since 2011. As the floating solar pioneer and expert, we provide our solutions all over the world through strategic partnerships.
Our recently completed 5.4 MWp floating solar plant in West Bengal at Sagardighi Thermal power plant is the world’s first plant to be set up in a thermal power station.
Also, we completed a captive project, India’s largest floating solar power plant in SPIC in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu with a 14.7 MWp capacity recently. Such captive projects will benefit the industry from a competitive price compared to the grid & we can replicate such projects in other industrial reservoirs such as steel, thermal, fertilizers, cement, chemical, etc in India. This model looks promising & interesting to many industries and investors.
Over the years, Ciel & Terre® has gained vast expertise and strong experience in the installation of large-scale floating PV plants on artificial and freshwater reservoirs. Our team has a thorough understanding of floating PV’s challenges and can assist the client all along the project development process.
Another remarkable progress we made over the years, on the customization aspect. As per customer requirements, it is very much possible now to adopt to any design to cater the client requirement & to endure technical and financial balance with our latest Hydrelio design.
Today, we indulged in 285+ floating PV projects in 30 countries, equivalent to 1.2 GW floating capacity using Hydrelio® technology. Thanks to our unique experience in floating solar, our Hydrelio® technology is now positioned as the ‘standard of the industry’ and owns the widest portfolio of projects in terms of completed floating PV power plants.
Human activity already overloaded with CO2 and other global warming emissions, and this is a global issue, increasing more and more floating solar emissions renewable energy would allow us to replace carbon-intensive energy resources and will significantly reduce the global warming emissions and silently contribute to the reliability and resilience for clean/green energy revolution.
