Norway has developed a new
floating photovoltaic system. Small area, open structure!
Norwegian scientists have tested a new floating photovoltaic system in a reservoir in Sri Lanka. The floating photovoltaic system consists of composite beams that support the photovoltaic modules and high-density polyethylene tubes that provide buoyancy.
Scientists at the Norwegian Institute of Energy Technology recently tested a new floating photovoltaic system designed and developed by Norwegian Current Solar on a stretch of water off Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka.
With an installed capacity of 44kW, the
floating solar system uses composite beams to support the photovoltaic array and high-density polyethylene tubes to provide buoyancy for the photovoltaic system. "The composite beams are arranged from east to west and tilted 15 degrees, and the photovoltaic array is installed longitudinally to maximize the use of standard-length high-density polyethylene tubes," the researchers said.
They used two different types of PV modules supplied by the Norwegian REC Group - REC Solar N-Peak 315 W and REC Solar TwinPeak 295 W.
The researchers said: "The floating photovoltaic system consists of a total of eight clusters. Each cluster string contains 18 components, with two clusters facing west and two clusters facing east for each component type. Each pair of strings using the same type of component with the same orientation is connected in parallel to a separate maximum power point tracker (MPPT) on the same inverter."
The floating PV system uses SMA's 50kW inverter with a total of six maximum power point trackers (MPPT). According to the research team, the floating photovoltaic system has a small footprint and a relatively open structure because the photovoltaic modules are close to the water. The team compared the performance of the floating photovoltaic system to a reference 2.5kW photovoltaic system installed on the shore for one year.
The reference PV system consists of eight REC Solar N-Peak 315 W PV modules tilted 8 degrees to the south. The scientists found that the floating photovoltaic system did not have any performance problems during operation. However, the reservoir where it was installed has been dry for some time. "Compared to the reference ground-based PV system, the relative power generation difference of the floating PV system during the period of stable performance was 0.6%, which is within the permissible error margin of installed capacity and it is not considered to be a material difference in performance," they said.
The results show that the overall performance of the system is the same as that of other floating photovoltaic systems located in similar climatic regions." The researchers present their findings in an article titled "Performance and Amphibious Operation Potential of Novel Floating Photovoltaic Technologies," recently published in the journal Solar Energy.
"Three more years of operational data are needed to assess the degradation and reliability of floating PV systems, and we will report back at a later stage of the study," they noted in the article.