The Prospects of the FPV Systems
The wider global water resources, the better prospects of the
floating photovoltaic system. According to WoodMac, a British energy and metal market data consultancy, floating photovoltaic will occupy a more stable market share in the global clean energy share, and the compound annual growth rate will rise by 15% between 2022 to 2031.
WoodMac also revealed that the global floating photovoltaic (FPV) industry is expected to maintain a steady growth due to the scarcity of land resources and the rising cost of deploying photovoltaic projects on the ground. By 2031, the annual increase in global floating photovoltaic power generation is expected to exceed the threshold value of 6GW.
Floating Photovoltaic (FPV)
Floating photovoltaic (FPV) is also known as floating photovoltaic, has a system setup similar to ground installation. The difference is that all photovoltaic modules, inverters, and other power station facilities are fixed to the floating platform through anchoring systems.
According to WoodMac's survey report, it is expected that 15 countries will have a cumulative installed capacity of
floating photovoltaic systems exceeding 500MW by 2035. China, India, and Indonesia collectively account for nearly 70% of the total demand for floating photovoltaic systems.
Market demand for FPV in the Asia Pacific region
In 2022, there are approximately 3GW of floating solar projects in the Asia Pacific region, accounting for over 90% of the global floating photovoltaic market. Although the development cost of floating photovoltaic is 20 to 50% higher than that of equivalent ground installation projects, the enhanced competitiveness of developers and the EPC model can help the industry reduce costs.
For example, China's cumulative floating photovoltaic capacity is expected to exceed 13 GW by 2031, with a compound annual growth rate of 12% over the next 10 years. Overall, the Asia Pacific market will continue to be at the forefront of FPV demand.
China will continue to maintain a leading position in the installation of floating photovoltaic, as it has been able to utilize retired flooded coal mines to develop floating photovoltaic.
FPV Market Demand in Europe
Except for the Asia Pacific region, Europe has a floating photovoltaic scale of nearly 150MW, ranking second in demand. In 2022, the Netherlands accounted for 32% of the European floating photovoltaic market, followed by France. At present, the Netherlands has a 41.4MW Sellingen floating solar power park, which is the largest floating photovoltaic project and was connected to the grid in 2021. Currently, WoodMac predicts that the growth rate of the Dutch market will slow down after 2025.
North American FPV Market Demand
For the United States, it is estimated that the compound annual growth rate of floating photovoltaic will be about 13% by 2031, and regions with high solar demand but expensive land costs such as California, Florida, and New Jersey are driving this development trend. Overall, due to supply chain constraints, component costs and other soft costs have generally increased in 2023. Therefore, the cost of floating photovoltaic industry in all segmented markets is relatively high. However, as the supply chain expands, the cost will eventually decrease to a reasonable range.
According to S&P Global data, 3.4GW of floating photovoltaic power generation has been installed worldwide by 2022. The institution predicts that the global demand for floating solar energy will reach 14GW by 2026, and states that driven by preferential policies and installation targets, about 92% of the installed capacity may be built in the Asia Pacific region.
Faced with the limitless potential of the Asia Pacific FPV market, Konka Mobile Interconnect's energy storage series products can not only be paired with traditional photovoltaic devices, but also provide stable and safe energy storage systems for floating photovoltaic devices.
For the photovoltaic power generation industry, the global available water surface area is much larger than the available land area, and large-scale water-based photovoltaic applications are still in the early stages in most regions of the world. The unique power generation and resource utilization advantages of surface photovoltaic are beyond the reach of terrestrial power stations. With the decrease in system costs, surface floating photovoltaic power plants will be given maximum consideration in many countries.