Pretty soon, we’ll see solar panels everywhere, including at sea
SolarDuck, a Norwegian-Dutch company, has obtained funding from German utility RWE to set up a floating solar plant pilot project in the North Sea, with a peak generation capacity of 0.5MW, which will complement an existing offshore wind farm.
Solar panels on floating platforms is a far from straightforward idea: the sea is a hostile environment, and the North Sea particularly so. However, the company’s design takes this into account, with the panels positioned high enough above the water to prevent them being lifted by strong winds, and instead able to glide over the waves like a carpet.
Floating solar panels have also been tested recently in other environments, such as the Alqueva dam in Portugal, one of the largest reversible hydroelectric power plants in Europe, where the Portuguese electricity company EDP has installed a set of twelve thousand photovoltaic panels that occupy about four hectares, 0.016% of the surface of the reservoir, with an installed capacity of 5MW and batteries that can store up to 2GWh, in a relatively simpler environment, with fresh water and generally less extreme weather conditions. The installation is capable of covering a third of the demand of the nearby towns of Moura and Portel.
