Tag Archive for: floatovoltaics

For developing countries, floatovoltaics could be especially powerful as a means of generating clean electricity.

Coming soon to a lake near you: Floating solar panels

A reservoir is many things: a source of drinking water, a playground for swimmers, a refuge for migrating birds. But if you ask solar-power enthusiasts, a reservoir is also not realizing its full potential. That open water could be covered with buoyant panels, a burgeoning technology known as floating photovoltaics, aka “floatovoltaics.” They could simultaneously gather energy from the sun and shade the water, reducing evaporation — an especially welcome bonus where droughts are getting worse.

Now, scientists have crunched the numbers and found that if humans deployed floatovoltaics in a fraction of lakes and reservoirs around the world — covering just 10 percent of the surface area of each — the systems could collectively generate four times the amount of power the United Kingdom uses in a year. The effectiveness of so-called FPVs would vary from country to country, but their research found that some could theoretically supply all their electricity this way, including Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Papua New Guinea.

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Source: Grist

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Floating power plants save on land, could usher in new ways to harness renewables. Here are the world's biggest floating solar farms.

The world’s biggest floating solar farms

FLOATOVOLTAICS: Floating solar, or ‘floatovoltaics,’ marks a revolutionary approach to solar energy, with arrays placed on water bodies rather than traditional land-based systems. This method not only generates clean energy but also offers potential cost savings and increased efficiency. As we delve into the globe’s top floating solar farms, these aquatic installations showcase groundbreaking achievements in renewable energy.

6. Sirindhorn Dam, Thailand – 45 MW

5. Sembcorp Floating Solar Farm, Singapore – 60 MW

4. Cecep Floating Solar Farm, China – 70 MW

3. Cirata Floating Solar Farm, Indonesia – 145 MW

2. Three Gorges New Energy Floating Farm, China – 150 MW

1. Dezhou Dingzhuang Floating Solar Farm, China – 320 MW

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Source: Gulf News

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Researchers found that 6,256 cities across 124 countries could, in theory, meet all their electricity demand from solar panels deployed on nearby water reservoirs.

Floating solar panels could completely power thousands of cities

Thousands of cities around the world could power themselves entirely with solar panels floating atop water reservoirs, according to new research. It’s a relatively easy way to generate renewable energy locally while also conserving water.

Solar arrays suspended over water, or floatovoltaics, work similarly to those spread out over land. The panels sit on a raft instead of on parking lots, rooftops, or other grounded mounts. But they haven’t been deployed in many places around the world yet and only produced as much electricity as less than 1 percent of the world’s land-based solar farms in 2020. Now, a new study published in the journal Nature Sustainability shows just how much potential cities could tap into with this emerging technology.

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Source: The Verge

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Floating panels are placed in human-made bodies of water, not taking up land that could be used for nature preserves or food production.

Floating solar panels could unlock clean power without wasting land

Many countries bet on solar panels when engaging in the switch to cleaner energy. But the technology requires much larger areas than conventional fossil fuel plants to generate the same amount of electricity. An emerging solution to save space is to float the panels on bodies of water, an approach dubbed ​“floatovoltaics.” Scientists believe this new approach could help solar energy to scale globally and fight climate change, but its environmental impacts are largely unexplored.

The world’s first commercial floatovoltaic system was installed on an irrigation pond at a California winery in 2008. Since then, bigger plants with capacities in the hundreds of megawatts have been built on lakes and hydropower reservoirs in China, and more are planned in Southeast Asia and Brazil.

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Source: Canary Media

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The installation is the largest floating solar power plant in the US Southeast located in Fort Bragg, North Carolina

US Army deploys its first floating solar array

Floating solar had a moment in the spotlight over the weekend when the US Army unveiled a new solar plant sitting atop the Big Muddy Lake at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. It’s the first floating solar array deployed by the Department of Defense, and it’s part of a growing current of support in the US for “floatovoltaics.”

The army says its goal is to boost clean energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and give the nearby training facility a source of backup energy during power outages. The panels will be able to generate about one megawatt of electricity, which can typically power about 190 homes.

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Source: The Verge

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Covering 10% of the world’s hydropower reservoirs with ‘floatovoltaics’ would install as much electrical capacity as is currently available for fossil-fuel power plants.

Floating solar power could help fight climate change

Solar panels need to be deployed over vast areas worldwide to decarbonize electricity. By 2050, the United States might need up to 61,000 square kilometres of solar panels — an area larger than the Netherlands1. Land-scarce nations such as Japan and South Korea might have to devote 5% of their land to solar farms2.

The question of where to put these panels isn’t trivial. There is fierce competition for land that is also needed for food production and biodiversity conservation. One emerging solution is to deploy floating solar panels (‘floatovoltaics’) on reservoirs.

The idea of floatovoltaics holds much promise, and there has been a rapid rise in installation and investments. But there are still many unknowns about the technology’s environmental impacts, along with its social, technical and economic dimensions.

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Source: Nature

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