India’s push for clean energy has hit a practical snag: acquiring new land for ground‑mounted solar plants is becoming increasingly costly and politically sensitive. The government’s newly approved PM Surya Sarovar Yojana (PM‑SSY) seeks to add 5,000 MW of floating solar on reservoirs, but officials are also looking at the country’s extensive irrigation canals as a land‑neutral alternative.
Canal‑top photovoltaics (CTPV) involve mounting solar panels on specially engineered structures that span irrigation or water‑supply canals. Unlike floating solar, which sits on water bodies, CTPV keeps the water free to flow while providing a platform for panels that can be aligned with the canal’s width and orientation.
The concept is not new to India. The first CTPV installation was commissioned in 2012 on the Narmada Canal in Mehsana, Gujarat, delivering 1 MW of power and saving about 9 million litres of water annually. Subsequent projects included two 10‑MW systems in Vadodara (2014‑2017) and a 20‑MW rollout in Punjab (2017‑2018).
In September 2025, the Punjab Energy Development Agency issued an expression of interest for 40 MW of CTPV projects across its 10,000‑km canal network, signalling renewed commercial interest. Haryana has also begun exploring CTPV on six of its irrigation canals, indicating that multiple states are testing the model.
A 2024 assessment co‑authored by research institute CSTEP estimated that India’s canals could host up to 131 GW of solar capacity, provided they are up to 30 m wide (or equipped with vertical bifacial panels for wider canals). The five states with the highest technical potential are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab.
Proponents argue that CTPV offers several advantages: it avoids the need for additional land, reduces water evaporation in arid regions, and benefits from the cooling effect of water beneath the panels, which can boost efficiency in hot climates. The Punjab pilot, for example, is said to have saved nearly 100 acres of land for a 20‑MW installation.
However, the technology faces significant hurdles. Elevated structures increase capital costs compared with conventional ground‑mounted farms, requiring extra steel, foundations and robust designs to withstand wind and canal operations. Maintenance is also more complex, as cleaning and repairs must be carried out over active waterways. The linear layout of canals can further raise costs when they meander or lack nearby substations.
Policy support has been sporadic. In 2014, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy launched a pilot‑cum‑demonstration scheme offering up to Rs 3 crore per MW for CTPV projects, but uptake remained limited. Analysts suggest that a renewed policy package—combining financial incentives, standardised technical guidelines and capacity‑building for state irrigation departments—could help bridge the gap between pilot projects and commercial scale.
If even a modest share of the estimated 131 GW potential is realised, CTPV could add a substantial amount of renewable capacity without further straining India’s already scarce land resources, complementing ground‑mounted, rooftop and floating solar installations in the country’s broader energy transition.