A Sustainable Design Solution for Providing Drinking Water by Harnessing Floating Solar PV-Based Generation in Rural India

Globally, about 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. In India, this is a major challenge for rural communities on account of falling levels of water table in two-thirds of the districts, lack of piped water facilities, and presence of harmful chemicals in groundwater. Sustainable Goal 6 of the UN targets the “availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by 2030. Therefore, there is an urgent need for sustainable decentralized drinking water systems that can be operated and maintained by rural communities. In recent years, floating solar PV (FSPV) projects have been installed in large numbers because of their varied advantages such as land neutrality, reduced evaporation, carbon savings, negligible effect on water quality, and feasibility on various water bodies. India has a water surface area of 18,000 km2 and rural areas have a huge potential for installation of floating solar plants. This paper proposes a sustainable design solution for providing drinking water by harnessing the power generated from FSPV projects. A literature review with the search terms “floating solar” and “drinking water” was carried out using the bibliographic databases of Scopus, Web of Science & Science Direct wherein similar concepts or designs were not reported. The benefits include the 24 × 7 availability of safe drinking water, water conservation, monetization (battery swapping, charging of e-devices, etc.), and employment generation for local people. This study will be useful for policy makers, planners, designers, financial institutions, and local self-governments. The future scope includes the implementation of the proposed design solution through a pilot study.