Early each morning, fisherman Nitin Birute casts his net into the backwaters of Jayakwadi Dam, catching enough fish to feed his family and make a modest living. But he fears his livelihood could evaporate if plans to install a huge floating solar farm on the Nathsagar reservoir go ahead.
The government is considering a project to blanket about 7,500 hectares of the 350-sq km reservoir near the town of Paithan in Maharashtra with floating photovoltaics, part of an ambitious push to create 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030 – enough to power hundreds of millions of homes in the world’s most populous nation.
Details on the Jayakwadi project, which is in the early stages of planning, are not publicly available, and THDC India Limited, the state power company behind it, did not respond to requests for information about the floating solar farm’s capacity, cost or when construction might begin.
Floating photovoltaics, installed on reservoirs, lakes and offshore waters, is an emerging technology that is particularly appealing to countries with limited land resources. But their impact on nature is a topic of debate, and environmentalists have warned that they may adversely affect people who depend on fishing and agriculture.
“We depend on this water for our food and our livelihood,” said Birute, who belongs to the local Kahar community. “If they cover the water with solar panels, what will happen to the fish? … If there are no fish, we will have nothing left.”
About 25,000 families earn their living from the reservoir. Earlier this year, hundreds of fishers and their families protested against the planned solar farm, and one group is pursuing a legal challenge to stop construction.
Green targets
India targets net zero emissions by 2070, a priority for a country that ranks among the world’s most vulnerable to the extreme weather caused by climate change. The government also wants to reduce the reliance on costly fossil-fuel imports to sustain economic growth and development.
Financial institutions have committed $386 billion to support green projects in India, Pralhad Joshi, the federal renewable energy minister, said in September.
Developing land-based solar projects in India has been delayed by land acquisition issues that are complicated by unclear records, inflated prices and potential local conflicts. Only a small section of the reservoir will be used for the project, leaving ample space for fishers, said Bhagwat Karad, a lawmaker who first proposed the idea of floating photovoltaics on the Nathsagar reservoir.
A floating solar farm may help reduce water evaporation in Jayakwadi Dam, located in a region that is prone to drought, and the plant will generate inexpensive electricity for nearby residents, Karad told Context. “The government will implement the project after discussions with the fishermen and will make sure that no one is left behind,” Karad said.
Way of life
But for Jayakwadi’s fishing community, the promise of clean energy is overshadowed by fears of losing their centuries-old way of life. Long before the dam was built, their forebears fished the rivers and streams that feed Jayakwadi, one of Asia’s largest earthen dams with 27 gates that regulate the flow of the Godavari River.
“They talk about saving water and producing cheap electricity, but no one is talking about what will happen to the people who depend on this water for their survival,” Bajrang Limbore, a local activist leading protests against the project, told Context.
The Kahar Samaj Panch Committee, which represents the fishers, lost a legal case in September to stop the project on the grounds that construction is restricted in the ecologically sensitive area. The National Green Tribunal, which rules on environmental cases in India, said the group had failed to show that the law prohibits developing a floating solar farm in the area.
The group’s lawyer Asim Sarode plans to take the case to the Supreme Court. “This isn’t about opposing renewable energy,” Sarode said. “We all want clean energy. But it has to be done in a way that doesn’t destroy people’s livelihoods or harm the environment.”
Jayakwadi is home to a bird sanctuary visited by migratory birds like flamingos, spoonbills and storks and 67 types of fish, including Indian major carp, a source for aquaculture at Nathsagar. Kishor Pathak, honorary wildlife warden for the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar area, where the dam is located, warns that the installation of solar panels could disrupt the entire ecosystem.
“The aquatic plants and animals in the dam rely on sunlight to survive,” he said. “If the panels block that sunlight, the whole food chain could collapse – from the fish to the birds that come here to feed.”
Sewage from 60 villages and the city of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar flows into the reservoir, but Pathak said aquatic life acts as a natural filter. A hydroelectric plant on the banks of the river has been idle since December as it awaits maintenance, an engineer at the facility said on condition of anonymity. “Why don’t they fix what’s already built before starting another project?” said the activist Limbore.
Generations of the Kahar, who were once palanquin bearers before the human-powered sedans became obsolete in India, have depended on fishing, a critical source of income for an impoverished community that lacks access to healthcare, education and housing.
“We don’t know anything else but fishing,” says Kusum Bai, an elderly Kahar woman. “The water is sacred to us, like the holy Ganges. If they take that away, we have nothing left.”