Floating Panels: A Groundbreaking Solar Technology Marvel

Solar panels are all well and good. A full system can provide all the power a home needs throughout the day. High-quality solar panels have some of the highest efficiencies available on the market, and prices are going down with more manufacturers jumping in on the action.

On the other hand, solar shingles have become a logical step towards improving solar panels. They’re lightweight, easy to manufacture, and generate lots of energy. Furthermore, they retail the aesthetic style and performance of residential roofing materials. GAF is one of the leading manufacturers of reliable solar shingles with an extensive support system.

Solar farms have become widespread all over the world. Vast, non-arable lands have become energy-generating assets for governments and corporations. Commercial properties with wide roofs can now power themselves with highly-efficient solar farms.

Today, the next step towards solar energy efficiency is through using floating panels. These panels have solar tracking capabilities that let it swim through the water and power their motors while maximizing the solar energy they collect.

You can learn more about floating solar panels and their marvelous technology from a post by AZO Cleantech.

The floating solar panel island, Proteus, is located in Oostvoornse Meer, a southwest Netherlands lake. The floating structure is covered in 180 solar panels whose total installed capacity is 73 kilowatts of peak power (kWp).

The company behind the installation, Portugal’s SolarisFloat, argues that this small deployment could be scaled up to generate significant amounts of renewable electricity without demanding valuable land space.

Introducing solar tracking capability to floating solar arrays is SolarisFloat’s unique contribution to the field, with no other commercial floating array using any solar tracking technology to date. This is likely due to the significant mechanical complexity involved. While land-based solar tracking systems have the ground to anchor to and resist mechanical drive passively, Proteus has to use propellers to remain stable.

Ho SolarisFloat says that combining floating and solar tracking technologies means that Proteus is up to 40% more productive than comparable static installations on land. Proteus is a pilot project that SolarisFloat is using to test its cutting-edge technology and analyze its capacity to produce clean energy. The prototype was recently recognized, with SolarisFloat being nominated as a finalist in the European Inventor Awards in 2022.

The single-sided panels on the prototype rotate every few hours on two axes. They use mechanical, geospatial, and light sensors to determine the sun’s location in the sky, with motors and propellers employed to tilt the solar panels perpendicular to sunlight’s incidence.

Floating Solar Arrays

Floating solar arrays are becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide. Capacity from floating solar has grown significantly in recent years, from 70 MWp in 2015 to 1,300 MWp in 2020. The market for floating solar technology is growing at a CAGR of 43% and is expected to reach $24.5 billion annually by 2031.

As a relatively new option for renewable energy, floating solar has yet to be widely adopted, but its potential is vast. Suppose only 10% of all man-made reservoirs were covered with floating solar. In that case, the world’s electric grids could benefit from 20 terawatts of renewable power – 20 times more than today’s total solar power capacity.

Most of today’s solar power capacity comes from land-based solar installations, but unused land is becoming increasingly scarce. Land occupancy is a key criticism for conventional solar power, as it prevents land from being used to grow crops or carbon-sequestering trees.

Research has found that solar power needs up to 50 times more space than coal and up to 100 times more space than gas to produce comparable energy levels. The land use requirement for solar may also harm biodiversity, particularly in bio-rich areas inhabited by several important species.

Floating solar arrays are emerging as a useful solution to this challenge. Singapore and Japan are heavily invested in floating solar due to the scarcity of available land in those countries.

Floating solar also solves another problem of land-based solar panels: overheating. Solar panels become less efficient when they become too hot, but floating solar panels are cooled by the water beneath them and can generate more electricity. Production is improved by as much as 15% when comparable solar panels are placed over water due to the water’s cooling effect. (Continued)

Roper Roofing & Solar is a reliable roofer, solar panel, and solar shingle installation company with decades of experience installing them for homes and properties in your area. Call us today to learn about what we can do for you.