Canals offer land-free solar power potential across India

UPDATE - follow-up to India's vast canal network offers a land-free path to solar power: India's massive irrigation canal network holds an estimated 131 gigawatts of potential for canal-top solar power installations, offering a way to generate clean energy without requiring extra land. A 2024 assessment co-authored by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy identifies Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Punjab as the five states with the highest potential. Canal-top photovoltaics involve mounting solar panels on elevated structures built over irrigation and water-supply canals, ensuring water flow remains unobstructed. In Punjab, installing 20 megawatts of these systems has saved nearly 100 acres of land. A 1-megawatt system commissioned on the Narmada Canal in Mehsana, Gujarat, in 2012 saves close to 9 million litres of water yearly from evaporation while producing 1.6 million units of electricity. Additional projects include 10-megawatt systems in Vadodara between 2014 and 2017, and 20 megawatts in Punjab between 2017 and 2018. In September 2025, the Punjab Energy Development Agency invited expressions of interest for 40-megawatt projects across more than 10,000 kilometres of canals, while Haryana has explored systems over six canals. Despite early progress, high system costs remain the primary hurdle, as elevated structures require sturdy designs, extra structural steel, foundations, and difficult maintenance access. Linear layouts following irregular canal paths and distance from electrical substations also drive up expenses. While a 2014 scheme by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy provided financial assistance, experts note that broader policy support, standardized specifications, and tailored financing like viability gap funding are needed to scale deployment.