State-owned power producer NTPC on Saturday said it has commissioned a 15 MW capacity at the floating solar PV project in Simhadri, Andhra Pradesh.

With this, the installed capacity of the floating solar PV project at Simhadri stands at 25 MW.

“Consequent upon successful commissioning of the 15 MW capacity, Simhadri Floating Solar PV Project at Simhadri, Andhra Pradesh is hereby declared on commercial operations,” a BSE filing said.

The floating solar installation, which has a unique anchoring design, is spread over 75 acres in an RW reservoir.

This floating solar project has the potential to generate electricity from more than 1 lakh solar PV modules, the power producer said. This would help to light around 7,000 households.

The project would also save 1,364 million litres of water per annum. This would be adequate to meet the yearly water requirements of 6,700 households.

With this addition, the installed capacity of NTPC and NTPC Group stands at 53,475 MW and 66,900 MW, respectively.

“This is also the first solar project to be set up under the Flexibilisation Scheme, notified by the government of India in 2018,” the country’s largest power generation utility said.

The project is part of NTPC’s plan to have 60 gigawatt (GW) renewable energy capacity by 2032 from around 4GW on Saturday.

NTPC plans to invest Rs 1 trillion between 2019 and 2024 to become a 130GW power producer by 2032.

“NTPC is also planning to set up a hydrogen-based micro-grid system on a pilot basis at Simhadri,” it said.

Subsidiary NTPC REL has also inked a pact with the union territory of Ladakh for a green hydrogen mobility project with NVVN jointly executing the project.