First unit of 250 MW floating PV project comes online in Ghana
The first 5 MW portion of the large floating power plant was connected to the transmission system of a 404 MW hydropower dam on the Black Volta River.
New study debunks several myths about floating PV
Dutch researchers have shown that bifacial floating PV arrays do not benefit significantly from sunlight reflected from the water, and claim that the water only reduces panel temperatures by a small amount. Bird droppings may also affect system performance, but floating PV could achieve a lower LCoE than ground-mounted arrays if such issues are addressed, they say.
Offshore floating PV may reach maturity in 2030
According to a report from DNV GL, the North Sea may host around 100 MW of floating solar capacity by 2030, and 500 MW by 2035. The LCOE of offshore PV systems is currently estimated at around €354/MWh but in the future it should be close to that of ground-mounted solar parks.
Hanwha Q Cells unveils special panels for floating PV
The South Korean module manufacturer has developed two new products for large-scale floating PV plants. They have power outputs of 415 W and 420 W and efficiencies of 19.4% and 19.6%.
‘Solar should be at heart of EU recovery’
Solarpower Europe has called on member states to put solar and battery storage front and center when it comes to drawing up the Recovery and Resilience plans needed to secure a slice of the bloc’s proposed €672.5 billion post-Covid stimulus package.
Floating PV on a quarry lake in southern Germany
Spanish company Isigenere has deployed a 739 kW floating array on a quarry lake near Dettelbach, in the Bavaria region. The plant is relying on 1,896 panels with a power output of 395 W each.
Open-source method to build flexible floating PV systems
A U.S.-Finnish research team has developed an after-market method to adapt commercially available flexible thin-film solar panels for applications in floating PV projects. The special panel design can be applied to three types of floating materials, including neoprene, mincell, and polyethylene.
‘Floating PV systems are storm-resistant’
Netherlands-based Floating Solar says its pilot floating PV project at the port of Rotterdam has been able to withstand four severe storms.
Cooling effect of water for floating PV arrays
Norwegian researchers have quantified the cooling effect of water in direct contact with floating PV arrays. They tested a computational fluid dynamics model to estimate U-values and used it on a 6 kW floating system deployed by Ocean Sun.
Enel to combine floating PV, hydropower
The Italian utility is testing several technologies at a floating PV array in Sicily. It wants to select the most promising ones for future large-scale projects in the reservoirs of its hydropower plants throughout the world.
