India’s reservoirs can host 102 GW of floating solar, says first national assessment

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India’s reservoirs can host about 102 gigawatt (GW) of floating solar capacity, according to the first comprehensive national assessment of the technology’s potential by the NISE. | Photo Credit: AFP

India’s reservoirs can host about 102 gigawatt (GW) of floating solar capacity, according to the first comprehensive national assessment of the technology’s potential by the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), an autonomous institute of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The report titled ‘Solar PV Potential of India (Floating Solar)’ frames panels on water as a way around one of the most intractable obstacles in the solar sector — land.

The 121-page assessment, however, contains no calculation of what it would cost to realise this potential in India. Its only cost reference is a 2021 benchmark from the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which the report cites to note that floating plants typically cost about 25% more upfront than ground-mounted ones, owing to floats, anchoring and waterproofing.

“We are in discussions with the Finance Ministry to promote floating solar and agri-photovoltaics,” Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary, MNRE said at a press conference on Wednesday (June 10, 2026) to launch the report. Agri-photovoltaics refer to farm beds that are sheltered by structures on which solar panels are mounted.

Ground-mounted solar systems, which dominate India’s roughly 100 GW of installed solar capacity, require three to four times more area per megawatt than the panels themselves occupy. Land acquisition, which is costly, slow and prone to conflict with agriculture and habitation, has historically and continues to be a chokepoint as India pursues 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030. Floating solar is “land neutral”, the report underlines.

NISE arrived at its estimate by passing India’s inland water bodies through six geospatial filters: lakes and reservoirs larger than 10 hectares, water present for at least 11 months a year, depths between 3