Lucknow, Dec 11 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh government is all set to establish a 50 MW solar plant in the heart of the Bakhira bird sanctuary, a Ramsar site touted as India’s largest natural floodplain wetland in Sant Kabir Nagar district.

The move stems from a proposal by the district magistrate of Sant Kabir Nagar to the Uttar Pradesh New & Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA), recommending the installation of a ground-mounted or floating solar plant in the Bakhira lake area, which is an eco-sensitive zone and is being developed as an attractive tourist destination.

UPNEDA director Anupam Shukla said: “We are exploring the possibility of setting up a 50 MW solar plant in the Bakhira lake area in Sant Kabir Nagar district under the Uttar Pradesh government’s solar policy. Soon bids will be invited from interested developers to set up the plant that may be floating or ground-mounted, depending on the feasibility report.”

The UPNEDA has asked the Lucknow Solar Power Development Corporation Ltd (LSPDCL) to conduct a feasibility study to find out the suitability of the establishment of a solar plant in the Bakhira area and suggest which kind of plant, floating (on water) or ground-mounted, will be more suitable given the geographical topography of the place.

Formed in 2015, the LSPDCL is a joint venture of the UPNEDA and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

According to Narendra Singh, the UPNEDA project officer, the district magistrate, Sant Kabir Nagar has recommended the installation of a 50 MW floating or ground-mounted solar plant/park in the Bakhira lake area to produce green energy for lighting and other purposes in the sanctuary.

“Currently, there is only one floating solar power plant in the state, and it is 20 MW set up by the NTPC in Aurraiya,” he said.

The District Magistrate Sant Kabir Nagar, in his letter to the UPNEDA, said that the Bakhira bird sanctuary was being developed as an attractive eco-tourism and agro-tourism hotspot with a strict ban on prohibited activities and encouragement of permitted ones to attract tourists.

The Bakhira sanctuary, he pointed out, was last year also declared a Ramsar site.

A Ramsar site is a wetland designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention signed in Iran in 1971.

Currently, there are 75 Ramsar sites in India.