The advantages of floating photovoltaics

Potential

  • Enormous area potential without area competition
  • Simple scalability

Efficiency

  • Higher PV yield due to cooling of the modules
  • Evaporation and algae growth in water bodies is inhibited

Flexibility

  • Combination with pumped storage power plants – more flexibility in operating mode
  • Use of existing infrastructure

Potential of FPV
in Austria

If one third of all reservoirs and storage lakes in Austria were covered with the SolOcean Floater, 5 gigawatts (GW) of electrical energy could be produced.

Calculation:
Impoundment and storage lakes in AT: 82 km² ; 1/3 of this corresponds to 27 km², i.e. 27 000 000 m².

  • Required occupation area for 1 MW SolOcean Floater = 5376m²
  • Generated SolOcean solar power: 27 000 000m² : 5376m² = 5022 MW
  • Reduction of CO2 emission: With 1 MW solar power 650 tons of CO2 are saved per year.

For comparison: The nuclear power plant Temelin has a capacity of 2 GW, i.e. 2000 MW.

With the occupancy of SolOcean floaters on 1/3 of the Austrian reservoirs and storage lakes, 5 gigawatts, i.e. 2.5 times more electrical power would be generated than in the Temelin nuclear power plant.

Other advantages

  • No land costs for PV plant
  • Better efficiency of PV modules due to water cooling
  • Water evaporation is reduced
  • Less algae formation in standing water due to less lake heating

CO2 savings potential in Austria

3.25 million tons of CO2 per year

Potential analysis of the World Bank

from October 2018 under

Market overview