The Gujarat canel-top solar system. (Source: Wikipedia)

SunEdison has completed a 1MWdc canal top solar power plant built for Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd (KBJNL), the Karnataka government agency responsible for the Krishna River and Dam. The completion represents SunEdison’s newest step in its investment and development in India’s solar industry.

The construction of Karnataka canal solar PV array is innovated and pioneered by SunEdison. The same solar technology was applied for the Narmada Canal Top Project in Gujarat in 2012. As the name implies, canal top solar systems are built over water canals. This type of system provides several unique benefits. While solar generated electricity saves large amounts of water compared to fossil fuel generated electricity, canal top systems save even more water by shielding the canals from the direct sun and hence reducing evaporation.

Additionally, canal top systems free up the surrounding land for other uses. Finally, canal top systems operate at cooler temperatures than conventional land based systems and generate more energy as a result.

Pashupathy Gopalan, president of SunEdison Asia-Pacific said, "We thank the Karnataka Government, the Honourable Chief Minister Shri Siddaramaiah, the Honourable Energy Minister Shri D. K. Shivakumar and the KBJNL authorities for their support in this project. We also thank the local community for their support during the project execution."