India explores canal networks for solar power expansion

UPDATE - follow-up to India's vast canal network offers a land-free path to solar power: India is looking at its vast canal network as a land-free option to expand solar power generation through canal-top photovoltaics, though high costs and maintenance challenges continue to limit large-scale deployment. Canal-top photovoltaics involve mounting solar panels on elevated structures built over irrigation and water-supply canals, which requires no additional land and helps reduce water evaporation while cooling the panels. In Punjab, installing 20 megawatts of canal-top systems is estimated to have saved nearly 100 acres of land. A 1-megawatt system over the Narmada Canal in Mehsana, Gujarat, commissioned in 2012 as India's first installation, saves close to 9 million litres of water yearly and generates 1.6 million units of electricity annually. Additional projects followed between 2014 and 2018, including 20 megawatts in Punjab and two 10-megawatt systems in Vadodara, Gujarat. 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 on six irrigation canals. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy launched a pilot scheme in 2014 with financial assistance targets of 50 megawatts each for canal-top and canal bank projects. A 2024 assessment co-authored by Shantanu Roy, Sector Coordinator for Renewables and Energy Conservation at the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, estimated India's canal-top and canal bank potential at around 131 gigawatts, with the highest potential in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Punjab. However, high system costs, difficult maintenance over working canals, and linear alignment challenges remain primary barriers, making financial mechanisms like viability gap funding and tailored policies essential for future growth.