New trend: Solar power floats on water

Solar energy application is by far the largest scale and probably even in the future.

Towards the trend of building solar power plants on the water

>> The world's largest floating solar power plant

In terms of technology, currently only widely developed two types: SPV Photovoltaic Technology (Solar Photovoltaic) and CSP (concentrated solar power) solar convergence Technology.

In SPV technology alone, sunlight energy is converted into electricity by photovoltaic cells (or tiny solar cells). These small batteries are assembled into large solar panels, and these panels are assembled into modules or ranges before being put on the grid and transferred to users.

Sunlight is an endless source of energy and 'does not cost money', but for many years the solar power industry has only been developed slowly and conservatively, especially in the field of use. SPV photovoltaic technology.

Only in recent years has this solar power been flourished by the impetus of production trends right on the surface of rivers and lakes and even on the sea.

The initiative started from Israel

The major limitation of harnessing solar energy to turn into electricity using SPV technology is caused by two main difficulties . First of all, Silicon semiconductors are the best but also quite expensive materials in CSP technology. The second is a large requirement for land area to put the solar panels while buying or renting flat land is also a big difficulty making the cost of solar power pushed up quite high.

In the pioneering countries in building and piloting technologies to overcome the above difficulties, it is necessary to mention Israel, namely Solaris Synergy. Solaris Synergy has solved both of these difficult problems, achieved amazing results and, thus, achieved first place in the idea competition at Tel Aviv University in November. 2011

Specifically, the research results achieved by Solaris Synergy are as follows. To reduce the cost of using large pieces of silicon, they need to be broken down to 'float on the water like Lego toys' and ' covered by a curved mirror film, which can collect light into a line thin . 'and, as such, ' the surface of the device is reduced by only 5% of silicon, thus reducing the costly cost of this material '.

To reduce the cost of land, Solaris Synergy has taken the receiver and converted sunlight into electric current to float on clean water, saltwater or waste water. And this system is lifted by a network connected from small parts made of glass fiber and ultra-light plastic that can float on the water. In addition, one added benefit: this solar panel on the water also offers another benefit because it significantly reduces evaporation, prevents the growth of algae and organic organisms in Water Environment.

And for the sun's rays to always converge in the silicon plates, the raised mesh is rotated gradually to follow the movement of the sun during the day thanks to a small remote-controlled motor antenna .

Solaris Synergy's invention is of great significance and is widely used in the world, first of all to the countries of England, Australia, India and Italy. And typically two solar power plants in Australia and Japan.

Australia: First floating SPV power plant

The solar power plant uses the first floating water-based SPV photovoltaic technology with its preeminent features already built and nearing completion, expected to start operations early in April 2015.

The plant floats on one side of the lake by a wastewater treatment facility in the town of Jamestown in South Australia state. The plant is designed so that most of the construction is done outside, and then assembled together on the basis of wastewater treatment.

Floating solar panels will be cooled by the lower water, thus increasing operational efficiency by 57% compared to terrestrial solar collectors . At the same time these plates ' also help to prevent 90% of water from evaporating from the covered surface below. For dry states or dry climates, this is an excellent water saving solution . It also prevents green algae from growing by keeping the water surface cool, improving water quality through treatment. "(according to Mrs. Felicia Whiting of Infratech Industries Company).

Australia's first floating solar power plant is built above a wastewater treatment facility.(Photo: ABC).

Infratech Infratech has developed floating solar power plants in many countries such as France and Korea, but these are also test sites. It is the plant that is about to be put into operation in South Australia that is the newly adopted factory, which is expected to produce energy not only for the operation of wastewater treatment facilities, but also for power supply. for Jamestown town.

It can be seen that this South Australian plant is actually the first floating solar power plant in the world . With this factory, experts affirmed that this is a model of sustainable solar power plant, which does not occupy land area and is a model for many countries around the world.

Japan: The largest floating solar power project

In addition to Australia, recently installed solar water battery technology has been developed in the UK, Australia, India and Italy.

And especially in Japan, a relatively narrow country with flat land and not enough space to build large solar power plants. But in return, Japan has the potential for agricultural reservoirs, flood control lakes and, in addition, the entire Phu Tang country surrounded by vast oceans. It is a valuable asset to install battery panels for solar power plants of different sizes.

Looking back at the development process in Japan, Nobuo Kitamura, senior executive of Kyocera, said: since 1970 the country has started to research and develop solar energy, but mainly applications. with a narrow range as in electricity production for street lights, traffic signs and telecommunications stations in mountainous areas. The next step is to build some larger factories on coastal strips like Kagoshima Nanatsujima.

Photo of the existing Kagoshima Nanatsujima solar power plant in Japan.(Photo: Kyocera).

In particular, since 2011 when the tsunami earthquake struck the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan has focused on developing renewable energy sources, including solar power with a bias toward The plant uses SPV photovoltaic technology and installs on water.

And in September last year, Kyocera Corporation launched a plan to start construction of the world's largest water-based solar power plant : covering 11,000 solar panel panels on two large water areas in Hyogo Prefecture. These two floating photovoltaic stations have a capacity of 2.9 MW, enough to supply 920 households with electricity.

At the same time Kyocera built 30 floating photovoltaic plants in 2015 to produce 60 MW of electricity. According to Kyocera, marine floating panels work better on land because seawater cooling solar panels makes photovoltaic cells more efficient.

The largest solar water system will be built on Yamakura Dam . The project is expected to be completed in March 2016, when the system will cover 180,000 m2 of water, with 50,000 solar panels and provide electricity for about 5,000 households.

With the first floating solar power plant about to be unveiled next month and Australia's world-class plant system is expected to open early next year, the solar power industry is based on SPV technology. The world will rise to a new position in line with the industry under the CSP solar convergence technology that will be presented in the next introduction CSP (concentrated solar power) solar convergence technology.