Floating solar

The funds will be part of the EU Covid-19 recovery package. Overall, the Italian government expects to deploy 2 GW of agrivoltaics and 2 GW through energy communities.

A technology-focused event held by the Africa Solar Industry Association has heard development pipelines across the continent are swiftly changing to accommodate double-sided PV panels, and that’s good news for solar tracker providers too.

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.

Spanish water-treatment specialist Emalsa has teamed up with Instituto Tecnologico de Canarias ITC and Universidad Europea de Canarias to study the feasibility of a 1.53 MW floating solar plant that could potentially power the Piedra Santa desalination plant in Gran Canaria.

Scientists in the Netherlands conducted a feasibility study for adding floating solar to a planned 752 MW offshore wind installation in the North Sea. The study finds that the two could realistically share a single connection to an onshore grid, with minimal curtailment as well as technical and economic benefits for both technologies.

The Korean manufacturer was chosen as a preferred bidder for a portion of the Saemangeum solar complex. The company will likely supply its special panels for floating PV for the project.