According to the research data of Singapore Solar Energy Research Institute at the end of October 2020, floating photovoltaic power stations have been all over the world, with nearly 800 floating photovoltaic power stations in operation or under construction. The Asian Development Bank has even started preparatory work for floating photovoltaic projects in the Pacific Islands, which shows the popularity of
floating photovoltaic systems.
The cumulative application of
floating photovoltaic system has exceeded 1.1GW globally, involving drinking reservoirs, hydropower stations, offshore waters and extremely cold areas and other application scenarios. The floating solar system has been widely recognized in terms of safety, reliability and environmental protection.
Recently, the floating array crashed and capsized due to the unreliable product design of floating body suppliers, unreasonable design of anchoring system and inadequate after-sales technical guidance by a floating photovoltaic project which was supplied by another domestic manufacturer.
Then, how to avoid the risk of floating photovoltaic projects has become a key issue in the industry. In this regard, we, Topper, believe that product design is the source. The anchorage system design is the key and the after-sales technical guidance is the guarantee. These three points can significantly help to reduce the risk of floating pv systems.
1. Product design is the source
The most basic components of the floating array are the floating body, the
floating pv mounting system, bolts and nuts used for floating photovoltaic. The product design, material selection, processing technology and product testing not only affect the strength, toughness, environmental protection, weather resistance and service life of the product itself, but also determine the stability and safety of the floating power station. Adopting low-end inferior materials and cutting corners to reduce the wall thickness standard of floating body. It will greatly reduce the service life of the floating solar system and bring project risks.
Recently, there are problems of poor performance and unreasonable design in the floating body connection of the Chinese floating photovoltaic power station with accidents, resulting in unstable connection. And the floating arrays collided with each other and even capsized. It makes people aware of the product design and experimental verification problems. The water environment of each floating photovoltaic power station is different, and each floating photovoltaic power station is independent. In addition to sufficient site exploration and strict simulation calculation, a large number of experimental verification and large-scale actual project operation verification are also essential, otherwise the risk will be transferred to the owner. Then, the project is at high risk.