floating PV

The 14.7 MW project, developed for Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC) Limited, relies on 37,632 390W PV panels occupies an area of 15.6 hectares.

Baywa re and Dutch researchers have evaluated the first positive effects of floating PV on the flora and fauna in water. They have also ascertained that the erosion of a lake’s banks has decreased.

Norway’s Glint Solar and the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute have developed an algorithm that is able to automatically calculate wave heights and wind directions at potential locations for floating PV arrays. It considers the geometry of the water surface as well as 40 years of data on wind conditions.

Researchers at the Norwegian institute Sintef are testing a special floating structure that Equinor wants to deploy in offshore waters. The structure is built with an anchoring system that is claimed to give the installation enough freedom to cope with the waves.

Dutch floating structure specialist Solarduck has built a pilot 65 kW floating PV array that will be connected to a 10 kW electrolyzer to produce hydrogen bonded with a liquid organic hydrogen carrier. The system is relying on the company’s proprietary floating technology that resembles an offshore oil platform.

AGL Energy has revealed plans for a floating PV project at its Loy Yang power station in Victoria, Australia. The energy giant is already producing brown hydrogen for export to Japan, and has applied for a 200 MW battery at the Loy Yang site.

The Recommended Practice guide, on top of describing the most common requirements for building a floating PV array, provides a series of technical guidelines for electrical safety, anchoring and mooring issues, operation and maintenance, and specific plant design that can withstand site-specific environmental conditions.

Italy’s Saipem is planning what could be the world’s largest offshore PV plant — a 100 MW facility located off the coast of the Italian northern region of Emilia-Romagna. The project, whose approval process began two years ago, is expected to become operational by the end of 2025.

Scientists in the UK have had a closer look at the impacts of floating PV systems on the water. They found that their cooling effect on water mitigates blooms of toxic blue-green algae and increased water evaporation, which are both caused by global warming. They also warned, however, that colder water may result in a reduction of the duration of so-called thermal stratification. The right proportion between the surface occupied by the PV array and a water surface’s total area is key for addressing this issue.

NTPC is now building a 100 MW floating solar array on a reservoir in the Indian state of Telangana.