The Union Cabinet on Friday approved the Rs 5,070-crore Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana, which will develop floating solar panels on water bodies, reservoirs and lakes. According to a government press release, the scheme aims to establish 5 GW (5,000 MW) of floating solar capacity by 2030.Under the scheme, the government will provide Rs 1 crore per megawatt (MW) of solar capacity installed after the project is commissioned. As part of the central financial assistance, it would provide an additional Rs 50 lakh for feasibility studies, risk assessments and environmental impact studies before the solar projects are carried out.Currently, India has 700 MW of floating solar projects, which is largely concentrated in the Omkareshwar Floating Solar Park in Madhya Pradesh. The construction of this 600 MW park began in 2022 and is said to be India’s largest floating solar project. It was jointly built by the Madhya Pradesh Government and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).“India has the highest per capita solar capacity. The PM-SSY scheme has been rolled out to use water bodies for solar potential in India. Under the scheme, the water bodies such as dams and lakes will be leveraged to create solar capacity. The scheme targets to establish 5,000 MW of floating solar (photovoltaic) PV capacity in the country – a seven-fold increase over the current capacity in the next five years,” said Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw while addressing a press conference.A floating solar PV system is mounted on plastic structures that float atop the water bodies. “The approval follows the recent assessment undertaken by the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), which has estimated a floating solar potential of approximately 102.18 GWp (gigawatts-peak) across reservoirs and other suitable inland water bodies in the country,” the government said in a statement.“Under the scheme, Central Financial Assistance (CFA) of Rs one crore per MW will be provided for eligible projects after successful commissioning,” it added.