Rays Power to build India's first solar plant on Navi Mumbai dam

Solar power developer Rays Power Experts Monday said it has won a Rs.162 crore contract for setting up a 20 MW plant at Morbe dam on Dhavari river in Navi Mumbai.

"This would be India's first-ever solar project built on a dam. The plant is scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2015," the company said in a statement here.

The contract has been awarded by Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).

Solar panels will cover the entire stretch of the dam barrier and the Morbe gravity dam having an earthen slope makes for a complicated work of engineering, said Rahul Gupta, director, Rays Power.

"The other side of the wall will have a huge amount of water, so the construction has to be done in a way that it doesn't puncture the wall. We also need to make sure that future maintenance is easy and the solar panels are not spoilt by salty water," Gupta told IANS.

Started in 2009, Rays Power is India's third largest company in the sector in terms of megawatts executed. It is currently recording a turnover of Rs.500 crore and aims to raise it to Rs.1,000 crore by the end of the fiscal.

In September, the company announced plans to set up a 50 MW solar power generation park within six months in Andhra Pradesh.

"Independent solar power parks are a brand new vertical we are entering into. We aim to complete this project by January 2015 and then gradually move on to establish similar solar parks in other parts of the country," Gupta said.