Floating solar panels could supply a large proportion of the electricity demand in several countries, and the entire demand of some nations, new UK research has shown.
The study calculated the daily electrical output for floating photovoltaics (FPV) on nearly 68,000 lakes and reservoirs around the world, using available climate data for each location.
The researchers looked at where the technology is most likely to be installed, identifying lakes or reservoirs that did not dry up, did not freeze for more than six months each year, were no more than 10km from a populated district and not in a protected area. They calculated output based on FPV covering 10% of their surface area, up to a maximum of 30 km2, as a level that is likely not to harm a lakes ecosystem.
The study, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, has been published in the journal Nature Water. It found five nations could meet their entire electricity needs from FPV – Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Benin and Kiribati. Others
would come very close including Bolivia and Tonga who could meet 87% and 92%, respectively, of their electricity demand.
Many countries, mainly from Africa, the Caribbean, South America and Central Asia, could meet between 40% and 70% of their annual electricity demand through FPV.
In Europe, Finland could meet 17% of its electricity demand from FPV and Denmark 7%.
The study estimated that the UK could potentially produce 2.7 terawatt hours (TWh) each year from FPV or 1% of overall demand currently around 300 TWh. This is enough electricity for around one million homes.
While output fluctuated depending on altitude, latitude and season, the potential annual electricity generation from FPV on the 68,000 lakes and reservoirs globally was 1302 TWh.
FPV have advantages over land-based solar installations, freeing up land for other uses and keeping panels cooler, making them more efficient. They are likely to particularly help lower income countries with high levels of sunshine.
Source: Qatar News Agency