Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) Farms

What are FPVs?

They are solar panels that are floating on water. They are a relatively new technology with various benefits however as with any new technology their cost is high compared to already established technology (land-based photovoltaics).

The total contribution and capacity of FPVs are very low in comparison to the total contribution of solar panels worldwide however the World Bank estimates that there is a potential to generate 400 GW of energy globally [1]. As of 2019 FPV's global capacity reached 1.1 GW [1]. See the graph below [2] comparing the global capacities of FPVs and traditional PVs.

Why use FPVs?

FPVs have many advantages over traditional land-based systems including not using up limited area. Having the photovoltaics (PV) on water results in an efficiency improvement, due to the cooling effect of water, by up to an impressive 12% [3]! A secondary benefit of placing solar panels on reservoirs is that less evaporation will occur due to the shade the farms provide [3].

FPV farm locations

More often than not, FPVs are usually placed in reservoirs and man-made lakes [5]. Why you might ask? First off it utilises real estate within the nation that otherwise wouldn’t have been utilised [4]. Secondly the lack of turbulence in the water is necessary for high performing solar energy utilisation. The choppy waves of the sea and the ocean will cause the panels to rock and sway violently sometimes overturning thus requiring frequent maintenance and overall being much more inefficient than being on stationary stagnant water.

Top 10 Largest FPV plants

Take a look at the graphic below showing the 10 largest floating photovoltaic farms around the globe.

There’s a heavy bias towards East Asian countries. Although China has the largest farms by capacity it is actually Japan who has the largest total capacity of FPVs globally. The graph below compares the largest farms' capacities [6].

Example FPV farm - Tunisia

Tunisia recently announced their first floating solar panel farm which will be located in the lake of Tunis close to its banks. This comes as Tunisia’s energy industry is being spurred on by investment in renewable energy specifically solar power [7].

The company who has been awarded the tender back in 2019 is called Qair and it is the same company who has constructed the Seychelles floating solar farm [7]. This company is also constructing traditional solar farms within Tunis.

It’s not the first country in Africa to employ the use of floating solar power plants, and it's definitely not the largest FPV plant in Africa, however it is hoped that continued investment in such technology will reduce the price and entice other countries to employ it. Check the graph below [8, 9] for a comparison of significant FPV plants in Africa.

---

References:

[1] The World Bank. Growing Exponentially, Floating Solar Opens Up New Horizons for Renewable Energy [Internet]. WASHINGTON: The World Bank; 2018. Available from: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/10/30/floating-solar-opens-new-horizons-for-renewable-energy#:~:text=The%20use%20of%20floating%20solar,market%20report%20on%20floating%20solar%2C

[2] Solar - Fuels & Technologies - IEA [Internet]. IEA. 2019. Available from: https://www.iea.org/fuels-and-technologies/solar

[3] Bellini E. Offshore vs land-based solar. pv magazine International. 2020

[4] Franklin-Cheung A. Are floating solar farms better than land-based ones? . BBC Science Focus Magazine. 2020

[5] Spector J. Floating Solar Excels Where Land Is Scarce, and That’s a Lot of Places Greentechmedia.com. 2019

[6] Mesbahi M. Solarplaza Top 100 Floating Solar Projects. Solarplaza.com. 2019

[7] Bhambhani A. 200 kW Floating Solar Project In Tunisia TaiyangNews [Internet]. Taiyangnews.info. 2020

[8] Bellini E. Floating PV offers alternative to grid outages in South Africa [Internet]. pv magazine International. 2020

[9] Largue P. Seychelles to build world’s largest floating solar plant - Renewable Energy World [Internet]. Renewable Energy World. 2020