By Ayesha Saba ISLAMABAD, May 11 (INP-WealthPK): The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) is going to implement the country’s first floating solar power project. The 150MW floating solar subproject will be deployed on Tarbela and Ghazi Brotha reservoirs. The project would greatly enhance the electricity supply and also help meet the rising demand for electricity in the country, reports WealthPK. According to official sources, the project would be completed in the next two years at a cost of $325 million. The World Bank will provide special funding for completion of the project. It would help add 300MW of renewable energy to the national power distribution system. When deployed on a dam reservoir, floating solar PV systems offer substantial benefits over land-based solar PV systems. The technology's main advantages are the conservation of water resources, the integration and implementation of floating solar PV on existing hydroelectric dam infrastructure, and its vast potential and capability to satisfy peak load demand. An official of Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) told WealthPK on condition of anonymity that Pakistan as a developing country requires a significant amount of energy to meet its residential and industrial requirements. “As a result of an increasing mismatch between power supply and demand scenarios, securing the long-term viability of water supply and energy generation is essential. There is still a need to introduce the trend of energy production utilising renewable energy resources, rather than the conventional ones.” “Introducing a floating solar PV plant in a huge hydroelectric dam reservoir is a revolutionary step in the domain of renewable energy systems. Pakistan has several large water reservoirs such as Tarbela, Mangla, Ghazi Barotha, and others. This is a great initiative of Wapda, which would play a vital role in meeting the peak load demand,” he stated. The AEDB official maintained: “Pakistan is mostly an agrarian economy, so in order to save land resources, we should concentrate on floating PV systems rather than land PV systems. This will spare more land for agricultural uses.” The country’s energy consumption is rising, with more electricity needed by 2030. The total amount of energy necessary to support industrialisation is around 54 gigawatts. On the other hand, renewable energy accounts for only a small part of the total energy use. The floating solar is a relatively new application of PV technologies, with markets growing in Asia, Australia and Europe. Over 250 floating solar plants have been documented around the world from 5kW to 40MW. Asia is expected to account for roughly two-thirds of the global demand, mostly driven by China, India, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. China is the world’s largest market for floating solar PV. The market for floating solar panels is expected to rise by over 45% by 2024.