Solar panels over canals? The Gujarat experiment every Indian should know about

India needs more solar power. India also needs more farmland. For years, that was a brutal trade-off—until one team in Gujarat asked a question nobody else had bothered to: what if you didn't need land at all? Their answer is now humming quietly above thousands of kilometres of irrigation canals, generating clean electricity and stopping millions of litres of water from evaporating into thin air.

Why put solar panels over canals?

Large solar farms require huge tracts of flat land, often competing with agriculture. In a country where farmland is precious, finding space for renewable energy is a major challenge.

Gujarat found an unusual solution: use the state's extensive network of irrigation canals. Since the canals already occupy public land, installing solar panels above them avoids the need to acquire farmland.

How does canal-top solar work?

The concept is simple. Steel structures are built across irrigation canals, with solar panels mounted a few feet above the flowing water.

Gujarat launched one of the world's first canal-top solar projects in 2012 near Chandrasan village. The 750-metre pilot project generated 1 megawatt (MW) of electricity while covering an existing irrigation canal.

Two major benefits from one project

The biggest advantage is obvious—clean electricity without taking away agricultural land.

But the shade created by the panels delivers another major benefit. It reduces water evaporation from canals exposed to the scorching sun, helping conserve water in drought-prone regions. The cooler environment can also improve the efficiency of solar panels.

How much water and land can it save?

According to project estimates, the first 1 MW canal-top solar installation helped save around 9 million litres of water every year.

Gujarat's vast canal network means the idea could be scaled up significantly. State projections suggest that covering just 10% of the canal network could:

• Generate around 2,200 MW of solar power.
• Save nearly 11,000 acres of farmland from being converted into solar parks.
• Prevent the evaporation of around 200 billion litres of water annually.
• These figures are estimates based on projected expansion and have not yet been fully realised.

Why isn't every canal covered yet?

Despite its advantages, canal-top solar remains expensive. Building and maintaining structures over flowing water costs more than installing panels on open land. Cleaning and repairs are also more challenging.

As a result, the technology has expanded only in select locations rather than across the country.

Even so, Gujarat's experiment continues to be seen as an innovative way to tackle two of India's biggest challenges at once—producing clean energy while conserving scarce water resources.