'Float-ovoltaics': How floating solar panels in reservoirs could revolutionise global power
Covering reservoirs with floating solar could produce three times as much energy as the EU currently does, a study has found.
Floating solar panels on reservoirs could produce three times as much electricity as the entire EU, a new study has shown.
Solar panels are one of the cheapest and most efficient ways of generating electricity but they also take up a lot of space.
Innovative schemes have seen them attached to car parks, trash heaps, and farms. Now, researchers are urging governments to invest in floating solar.
According to a study published in the journal Nature, covering 30 per cent of the surface of the world’s 115,000 reservoirs with solar could generate 9,434 terawatt hours of power annually.
That’s more than triple the energy production of the EU, which reached 2,785.44 terawatt hours in 2021.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge are working on creating 'floating factories' to produce net-zero fuel.
They have developed a floating artificial leaf which transforms sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into a green fuel. In the future, multiple leaves could be linked up to generate the fuel on an 'industrial scale.'
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How do floating solar panels work?To achieve net zero, countries need to invest in renewable energy.
According to a 2021 study, countries might need to devote between 0.5 and 5 per cent of their land area to solar panels in order to fully decarbonise. Solar may be far better for the planet than natural gas - but it takes up about 70 times as much land per unit of energy.
When space is at a premium, planners can end up at loggerheads with farmers, local authorities, and conservationists.
Floating solar could provide a solution.
They are just like normal ‘photovoltaic’ cells, which generate electricity from sunlight. The only difference is that they float on pontoons - earning them the nickname ‘floatovoltaics.’
Solar needs a stable, unshaded water surface - making an irrigation canal, quarry lake, or reservoir the ideal location.
The first floatovoltaic system was installed in 2008. The Dezhou Dingzhuang Floating Solar Farm in China is the largest facility in the world and covers nearly 600 hectares.
Less than one per cent of the world’s solar installations are currently floating - but according to the study in Nature, they have “huge potential.”
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