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Combining Floating Solar Photovoltaic Power Plants and Hydropower Reservoirs: A Virtual Battery of Great Global Potential

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Francisco Javier Farfan Orozco at Åbo Akademi University
Francisco Javier Farfan Orozco
Christian Breyer
Christian Breyer
Christian Breyer
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Abstract

Artificial water reservoirs have been created over history for a variety of purposes such as flood control, seasonal water storage for irrigation, fishing, hydropower generation, energy storage, etc. Globally, hydropower represents still the largest share of renewable electricity generation, with over 1170 GW of capacity installed, thereof 328 GW is hydro Run-of-River capacity, and the rest is hydro reservoir based (141 GW of which is hydro pumped storage), controlled to different degrees. These reservoirs cover a surface of approximately 265.7 thousand km 2 with the potential to host 4400 GW of floating photovoltaic (PV) power plants at 25% reservoir surface coverage and generate approximately 6270 TWh of electricity. This capacity can be extended to 5700 GW and about 8000 TWh of electricity if all reservoirs (hydropower and for other purposes) are covered at 25%, in both cases generating already more electricity than hydropower from reservoirs at about 2510 TWh. The flexibility of operation of hydro reservoir based power plants and their current connection to grids facilitates a "virtual battery" consisting of supplying the electricity demand with solar energy during peak irradiation hours, while balancing grids with hydropower during low/no irradiation times and providing a zero impact area for PV power plant deployment. The characteristics of the "virtual battery" are investigated and presented in this study. The PV power plants also could prevent approximately 74 billion m 3 of water evaporation, further benefiting hydropower production and water conservation, increasing water availability by an estimated 6.3%, adding an estimated 142.5 TWh of production to reservoir-based hydropower plants.
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ScienceDirect
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect
Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
1876-6102 © 2017The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling
Assessing the feasibility of using the heat demand-outdoor
temperature function for a long-term district heat demand forecast
I. Andrića,b,c*, A. Pinaa, P. Ferrãoa, J. Fournierb., B. Lacarrièrec, O. Le Correc
aIN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research -Instituto Superior Técnico,Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
bVeolia Recherche & Innovation,291 Avenue Dreyfous Daniel, 78520 Limay, France
cDépartement Systèmes Énergétiques et Environnement -IMT Atlantique, 4 rue Alfred Kastler, 44300 Nantes, France
Abstract
District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the
greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat
sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease,
prolonging the investment return period.
The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand –outdoor temperature function for heat demand
forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665
buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district
renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were
compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors.
The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications
(the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation
scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered).
The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the
decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and
renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the
coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and
improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
Cooling.
Keywords: Heat demand; Forecast; Climate change
Energy Procedia 155 (2018) 403–411
1876-6102 © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 12th International Renewable Energy Storage
Conference.
10.1016/j.egypro.2018.11.038
10.1016/j.egypro.2018.11.038
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientic committee of the 12th International Renewable Energy Storage
Conference.
1876-6102
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect
Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
1876-6102 © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 12th International Renewable Energy Storage Conference.
12th International Renewable Energy Storage Conference, IRES 2018
Combining Floating Solar Photovoltaic Power Plants and
Hydropower Reservoirs: A Virtual Battery of Great Global Potential
Javier Farfan*, Christian Breyer
Lappeenranta University of Technology, School of Energy Systems, Skinnarilankatu 34, 53850, Lappeenranta, Finland
Abstract
Artificial water reservoirs have been created over history for a variety of purposes such as flood control, seasonal water storage for
irrigation, fishing, hydropower generation, energy storage, etc. Globally, hydropower represents still the largest share of renewable
electricity generation, with over 1170 GW of capacity installed, thereof 328 GW is hydro Run-of-River capacity, and the rest is
hydro reservoir based (141 GW of which is hydro pumped storage), controlled to different degrees. These reservoirs cover a surface
of approximately 265.7 thousand km2 with the potential to host 4400 GW of floating photovoltaic (PV) power plants at 25%
reservoir surface coverage and generate approximately 6270 TWh of electricity. This capacity can be extended to 5700 GW and
about 8000 TWh of electricity if all reservoirs (hydropower and for other purposes) are covered at 25%, in both cases generating
already more electricity than hydropower from reservoirs at about 2510 TWh. The flexibility of operation of hydro reservoir based
power plants and their current connection to grids facilitates a “virtual battery” consisting of supplying the electricity demand with
solar energy during peak irradiation hours, while balancing grids with hydropower during low/no irradiation times and providing
a zero impact area for PV power plant deployment. The characteristics of the “virtual battery” are investigated and presented in
this study. The PV power plants also could prevent approximately 74 billion m3 of water evaporation, further benefiting hydropower
production and water conservation, increasing water availability by an estimated 6.3%, adding an estimated 142.5 TWh of
production to reservoir-based hydropower plants.
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 12th International Renewable Energy Storage
Conference.
Keywords: Renewable energy; floating photovoltaic; virtual battery; water reservoir; hydropower
* Corresponding author. Tel.: + 358 417 057 569;
E-mail address: javier.farfan.orozco@lut.fi
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect
Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
1876-6102 © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 12th International Renewable Energy Storage Conference.
12th International Renewable Energy Storage Conference, IRES 2018
Combining Floating Solar Photovoltaic Power Plants and
Hydropower Reservoirs: A Virtual Battery of Great Global Potential
Javier Farfan*, Christian Breyer
Lappeenranta University of Technology, School of Energy Systems, Skinnarilankatu 34, 53850, Lappeenranta, Finland
Abstract
Artificial water reservoirs have been created over history for a variety of purposes such as flood control, seasonal water storage for
irrigation, fishing, hydropower generation, energy storage, etc. Globally, hydropower represents still the largest share of renewable
electricity generation, with over 1170 GW of capacity installed, thereof 328 GW is hydro Run-of-River capacity, and the rest is
hydro reservoir based (141 GW of which is hydro pumped storage), controlled to different degrees. These reservoirs cover a surface
of approximately 265.7 thousand km2 with the potential to host 4400 GW of floating photovoltaic (PV) power plants at 25%
reservoir surface coverage and generate approximately 6270 TWh of electricity. This capacity can be extended to 5700 GW and
about 8000 TWh of electricity if all reservoirs (hydropower and for other purposes) are covered at 25%, in both cases generating
already more electricity than hydropower from reservoirs at about 2510 TWh. The flexibility of operation of hydro reservoir based
power plants and their current connection to grids facilitates a “virtual battery” consisting of supplying the electricity demand with
solar energy during peak irradiation hours, while balancing grids with hydropower during low/no irradiation times and providing
a zero impact area for PV power plant deployment. The characteristics of the “virtual battery” are investigated and presented in
this study. The PV power plants also could prevent approximately 74 billion m3 of water evaporation, further benefiting hydropower
production and water conservation, increasing water availability by an estimated 6.3%, adding an estimated 142.5 TWh of
production to reservoir-based hydropower plants.
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 12th International Renewable Energy Storage
Conference.
Keywords: Renewable energy; floating photovoltaic; virtual battery; water reservoir; hydropower
* Corresponding author. Tel.: + 358 417 057 569;
E-mail address: javier.farfan.orozco@lut.fi
404 Javier Farfan et al. / Energy Procedia 155 (2018) 403–411
2 Javier Farfan and Christian Breyer / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000
1. Introduction
Hydropower is a well established technology that has played an important role in the global power system since
the beginning of centralized power distribution systems. The oldest (but still operating) hydropower plants have been
active since the end of the 19th century [1]. Hydropower plants are operating throughout the planet, with presence in
almost every country in the world. There is 701.1 GW of active hydropower plant, reservoir-based capacity installed
worldwide (see Figure 1) and 138.7 GW of hydro pumped storage capacity [1].
Shown in Figure 1 is the distribution of reservoir-based hydropower plants globally. It can be noticed that in large,
commonly dry areas (Sahara, Northern Mexico, Central USA, Persian Gulf, Australia, etc.) the level of hydropower
installations are noticeable lower, nevertheless present. This is due to the fact that hydropower is a major, localized
resource.
Fig 1. Active global installed capacity of reservoir-based hydropower plants in 2014. Data is taken from [1].
In contrast, solar photovoltaic (PV) generation started having a limited presence in the 1980s, but since then
installations have increased in an exponential manner, matching the exponential fall of the price of solar PV panels,
occupying a significant share of the new power installations since the year 2010 [1,2]. By end of 2016 the global
cumulative installed PV capacity was 306 GW [2], and in 2017 new PV capacity of about 100 GW was added [3]. A
very strong growth of PV capacity in the multi TW scale is expected till the mid of the 21st century [1, 2, 4]. However,
despite both technologies having shares of the global electricity system for a few decades already, PV and hydropower
have only recently started to meet [5-10]. A wide array of designs is currently being either designed, tested or deployed
[11], including concepts such as floating platforms, floating thin films, submerged PV panels, etc. Though the
characteristics differ from one design to another, the advantages of floating PV (FPV) systems are very clear:
Using water surfaces for FPV deployment provides areas of potential zero impact and hardly any alternative use
The cooling provided by the water increases the PV panels’ efficiency
The shading provided by the FPV panels prevents a significant amount of water evaporation
The shading provided by the PV panels significantly reduces algae growth, thus improving water quality
Water surfaces provide areas free of shading objects (trees, buildings, etc.) and a higher sunlight reflection
coefficient, optimal for PV deployment
Due to the aforementioned reasons, FPV plants hold a huge potential globally. Moreover, further advantages occur
when both FPV and hydropower reservoirs meet, such as grid connectivity (with transmission lines, transformers,
etc.) already present, every litre of water prevented from evaporation will produce additional hydropower energy, etc.
An additional feature that has not yet been analysed is the ability of the hydropower plant to act as a virtual battery of
Javier Farfan et al. / Energy Procedia 155 (2018) 403–411 405
Javier Farfan and Christian Breyer / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 3
the FPV plant.
One of the disadvantages of solar energy is that it depends on weather conditions and patterns, location-specific
radiation levels, and daily natural cycles. Because of this, solar energy production is not controllable. On the other
hand, reservoir-based hydropower (when sufficient water is present) is highly controllable, though due to its historic
low cost is normally used as baseline capacity production. However, the current and projected fall in cost of PV
systems [12, 13] can shift this tendency. The now potentially cheaper solar energy can be used directly while using
the water reservoir and hydropower plant as virtual batteries to balance intermittent electricity generation.
Under a “virtual battery” configuration, during high irradiation time, the power generated by the FPV panels would
be transmitted to the grid and used directly, while either the reservoir accumulates (when there is an inflow stream)
or just holds water that can be then later used during times of low or absent solar irradiation. In this manner, the
reservoir itself becomes a battery, where the “charge” is the water spared from being used or accumulated while the
direct solar energy is being used. This is of course feasible due to the high flexibility of hydropower plant operation.
2. Methodology
The base data used to perform this research is the global reservoir and dam (GRanD) database [14]. The database
compiles all known water reservoirs for which the water level can be purposely controlled. A total of 6863 reservoirs
are listed, of which 2134 are listed with hydropower capabilities, either as main or secondary use. Among the data
fields, specified information includes location coordinates, name of the reservoir/dam, province, country, closest
population centre, average water discharge, reported reservoir surface area, volume capacity, maximum and minimum
reported surface areas, main and secondary use of the reservoir, head of the dam, etc. In total, the water reservoirs that
fuel hydropower plants provide a reported surface area [14] of approximately 263 thousand km2 of water, which
represents an area of potential zero impact. The 263 thousand km2 of total surface is obtained by adding up the
minimum reported surface area of each reservoir, when indicated, or the reported surface area (when minimum area
is not indicated).
For the 2134 reservoirs marked with hydropower function, reservoir capacity (in million cubic meters) and annual
average discharge (in litres per second) information is always listed, but only 1768 list a number for reported area
(square kilometres). The rest of the unspecified area was estimated according to a global average volume-to-surface
ratio, as area is a vital factor for FPV potential calculation.
The electricity storage capacity of the dam is calculated according to Equations 1 and 2;
=  ∗  ∗  ∗ ℎ ∗ Ȯ ∗  (1)
Τ = / (2)
Table 1: Definition of terms for Equations 1 and 2
Symbols
Description
E
η
ρ
Ȯ
g
h
Τ
φ
θ
Maximum electricity storage capacity of the reservoir (Wh)
Efficiency of turbine + generator (assumed 90% for hydropower)
Density of water (kg/m3)
Water flow (m3/s)
Gravity constant (rounded to 9.81 m/s2)
Head of the dam (m)
Time (hours)
Volume capacity of the reservoir (m3)
Yearly average discharge ratio of the reservoir (m3/s)
For the FPV plant assumptions, the power density and water evaporation prevention ratios are obtained from [5],
at 66.82 Wp/m2 and 1.1 m3H2O/m2FPV, respectively. As for FPV energy production, a simulation of the irradiation maps
for optimally fixed-tilted PV systems was calculated per location according to the global annual irradiation profiles
used by [15]. Influencing effects of the surrounding waters are neglected, such as cooling or albedo effects. Every
reservoir surface area was assumed to be covered by only 25%, to protect the FPV from being affected b y fluctuating
water levels, (though as tested by [5] it seems not to be a constraint). The results are simulated according to the 145
geographic regions defined by [15].
406 Javier Farfan et al. / Energy Procedia 155 (2018) 403–411
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3. Results and Discussion
Under the assumptions and methods previously presented, the following findings have been obtained. Figure 2
presents the potential installation capacity (bottom) and the potential electricity generation (top) by FPV for the
reservoirs with hydropower capabilities (regardless of whether it is the main or secondary purpose of the reservoir).
The focus on hydropower capable reservoirs is due to the fact that they have lower potential cost integration, as grid
connectivity is already available. A total of 4400 GWp of FPV capacity could be installed and 6270 TWh could be
generated globally by covering only 25% of the estimated surface area of the reservoirs, which can then be used
virtually as a battery. The regions of the world with the highest potential for virtual battery operation are mostly in
Siberia, Eastern Europe, the Nordic countries, some parts of North and South America, and Central Africa. As
expected, areas predominantly dry, such as the Persian Gulf and North Africa, have significantly less potential (as
they have less available water). The largest controllable water reservoir is located in Africa, within the borders of the
integrated region of the territories of Kenya and Uganda, which, combined with pristine solar irradiation conditions,
creates the spot with the most potential of hydropower combined with FPV.
Fig. 2. Potential electricity generated per year from (top) and potential capacity of (bottom) FPV covering 25% of the water surface of
hydropower reservoirs.
To put things into perspective, Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance [16] estimates that the global demand for
electricity storage by 2030 is going to be around 300 GWh, that is, doubling six times from 2016 levels. Whereas,
Javier Farfan et al. / Energy Procedia 155 (2018) 403–411 407
Javier Farfan and Christian Breyer / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 5
other research [4] indicates a total global storage demand (throughput) of about 15,100 TWhel by 2050 for a global
100% renewable electricity system, and thereof 10,100 TWhel of utility-scale batteries. For reference, it is estimated
that hydropower from reservoirs contributes 2510 TWhel to global electricity generation [17], and further growth may
be rather limited. This is already less than what can be potentially produced by covering only 25% of the surface of
reservoirs by FPV. Extending further the coverage ratio of the reservoir to 50% would then double the potential energy
generated by FPV to 12,540 TWh. However, environmental and social constraints should be further investigated.
Furthermore, if the FPV installations were to be extended to reservoirs of all purposes, the installed capacity and
generation would extend to 5700 GW (bottom) of FPV capacity and 8039 TWh (top), respectively, as shown in Figure
3. An approximated 74 billion m3H2O would be prevented from evaporation, thus increasing roughly 6.3% the available
water of the reservoirs per year for further energy production (approximately 142.5 TWh assuming 90% hydropower
efficiency) or any alternative intended purpose of the reservoir. As reported by [18], just the water conservation
advantage is already enough reason for PV systems to be installed over water bodies in high water stress areas, for
which, depending on the coverage ratio, evaporation can be reduced by 50% to 80%. Also, up to an additional 7% of
efficiency was reported on the solar panels compared to ground mounted systems [18].
Fig 3. Potential electricity generated per year from (top) and potential capacity of (bottom) FPV plants over water reservoirs of all purposes at a
reservoir coverage ratio of 25%.
Figure 3 shows a significantly “brighter” picture than what can be seen in Figure 2, which is caused by an additional
28% of electricity which can be generated when reservoirs of all purposes (hydropower, agriculture, recreation, etc.)
have their surface covered at a 25% ratio. This scenario presents some additional advantages. Visible in Figure 3, it
408 Javier Farfan et al. / Energy Procedia 155 (2018) 403–411
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can be noticed that water reservoirs for any purpose are more widely distributed globally, and thus are more likely to
be able to provide electricity to grids closer to population centers. Despite missing the hydropower virtual battery
functionality, such locations would still benefit from decreased water evaporation and increased PV panel efficiency.
Furthermore, the technology of FPV’s increasing popularity has led to worldwide installations reported by [7, 19] as
presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Reported FPV installations worldwide as reported by [7, 19].
Country
Total added capacity
China
Japan
United Kingdom
South Korea
Australia
Italy
United States
Spain
France
India
Singapore
Canada
376.50 MW
22.66 MW
9.33 MW
6.00 MW
4.00 MW
0.77 MW
0.67 MW
0.32 MW
0.12 MW
0.06 MW
0.005 MW
0.0005 MW
Several further FPV projects have been announced, as for Indonesia [20] (200 MW) and China (additional 1.1
GW) [19]. A first combined FPV hydropower project was realized recently in Portugal [21].
An equivalent behavior (balancing hydropower and PV instead of hydropower with FPV) has already been found
by various research [22-28]. In areas of the globe where both hydropower (dark blue in Figure 4) and a good solar
resource (light yellow and dark yellow from Figure 4) are available, hydropower is expected to shift from the
traditional “base generation” operation towards intermittent operation, covering the demand during the low solar
irradiation periods, as can be seen in Figure 4 [22]. The depicted example is for Mexico South, and further examples
can be found for Turkey [23], Argentina [24], Central America [24], US Mid Atlantics [22], Malaysia West [26],
Indonesia Sumatra [26] and Pakistan North [25]. Research results clearly indicate a substantial demand for short and
long-term storage and renewable energy easy to dispatch, such as bioenergy and hydro reservoirs, for an electricity
system based on variable renewable electricity, mainly solar PV and wind energy. Hydropower from reservoirs can
function as short-term and long-term balancing components due to their dispatchability and thus support an energy
system integration of high shares of solar PV, which is found as a major source of electricity all around the world [4,
17]. The “virtual battery” dispatch of hydro reservoirs can be studied in detail for all 145 regions for all hours of a
year for the simulated case of a 100% renewable electricity system in [23] and respective data can be downloaded.
Alternative hybrid systems of FPV plus energy storage options have been proposed, such as [29, 30]. However,
FPV combined with hydro reservoirs present the additional advantage of having the storage part of the system already
built, which, with in-depth techno-economic analysis, should prove to be the least cost option.
Javier Farfan et al. / Energy Procedia 155 (2018) 403–411 409
Javier Farfan and Christian Breyer / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 7
Fig 4. Hourly generation profile for Southern Mexico, an example of a balancing region, obtained from the supplementary material from [22].
4. Conclusions
The benefits of a FPV and hydropower system are significant. FPV, beyond being able to cover manifold the global
demand for energy storage, has advantages that extend further. The profiles of operation of hydropower plants and
PV plans have also previously been found to work in a good degree of complementarity. FPV is capable of providing
significantly more electricity (6270 TWh in total) than hydropower from reservoirs (2510 TWh in total) at a coverage
rate of 25%, while providing balance to the FPV intermittent operation. The estimated 6.3% additional water available
through prevention of water evaporation can potentially increase hydropower electricity generation by the same ratio
under the presented conditions (about 142.5 TWh assuming 90% hydropower efficiency). Depending on the location
and additional purposes of the reservoir, higher coverage ratios could be considered, thus providing even more
capacity (and electricity), and increasing the rate of water conservation. A surface coverage of 50% (of hydropower-
based reservoirs) could increase the contribution of FPV to electricity supply to about 12,540 TWh, which would
outstrip that of hydro reservoirs by factors. However, social and environmental constraints may escalate in parallel
with increasing reservoir coverage rates.
At the same time, batteries and other alternative energy storage technologies have still a strong role to be played.
The main disadvantage of hybrid FPV-hydropower configurations is that they are geographically restricted to specific
areas and strongly affected by seasons and weather patterns, and the “virtual battery” functionality is limited to the
reservoir’s capacity. Furthermore, the availability does not necessarily match population centre (demand) locations.
However, even more renewable electricity could be provided by such regions if hybrid FPV-hydropower plants were
applied. Figures 1 and 2 show, for example, high capacities in Siberia and the Amazon jungle, two mostly unpopulated
places. On the other hand, due to the immobile nature of the concept, alternative electricity storage technologies would
still cover the demand of sectors such as mobility, portable devices, transportation, etc., playing a vital role in global
energy systems.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Lappeenranta University of Technology for providing the means and the
resources to carry on the research and Michael Child for the English proofreading.
410 Javier Farfan et al. / Energy Procedia 155 (2018) 403–411
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Supplementary resource (1)

Farfan2018 poster FloatingPVandHydropowerReservoirs-VirtualBatteryGlobalPotential IRES final
Data
March 2018
Francisco Javier Farfan Orozco · Christian Breyer
... Hydropower plant colocation boosts output and flattens the generation curve. While PV systems eventually have the ability to make up for the hydro energy deficit, a floating solar panel located close to a reservoir's dam can alter hydropower production to account for unsteady generation [67]. There are numerous applications for HFPV. ...
... Generation is increased and the generation curve is smoothed when hydropower plants are collocated with other power sources. As time goes on, PV systems can make up for the loss in hydro energy, and a floating solar system along a reservoir's dam can alter hydropower generation to compensate for unsteady generation [67]. HFPV has many uses. ...
A Review of Hybrid Floating Solar Plant Designs
Article
  • Mar 2023
The demand for power will have doubled by the year 2050. Solar energy currently meets a small percentage of the world's demand, despite its enormous potential as an eco-friendly method for producing electricity. Utilizing land resources sustainably is one of the challenges. As an alternative, floating PV (FPV) plants on bodies of water, such as a dam, reservoir, canal, etc., are gaining popularity worldwide. This project aims to design a hybrid floating solar system that can produce renewable energy in light of the above. Among the hybrid technologies addressed are FPV & hydro systems, FPV & pumped hydro, FPV & wave energy converter, FPV & solar tree, FPV & tracking, FPV & conventional power, and FPV & hydrogen. The review also summarises the main benefits and drawbacks of hybrid floating solar PV (FPV) systems. The hybrid FPV technologies with hydro and solar energy input were some of the most promising ones for producing power efficiently. The important ideas in this paper advance understanding and could serve as a catalyst for the creation of environmentally friendly, sustainable hybrid floating installations
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... Additionally, these structures reduce the algal blooms. Algae growth and eutrophication can be eliminated because of shading [37] provided by FPV [15,16,38,39], which ultimately leads to increase in water quality. Further studies are needed to reveal the relationship between FPV usage and algae growth [29]. ...
... Moreover, dustiness is expected to be much less compared to ground-based ones [42]. Grid can be already existing in the vicinity of the water reservoir, especially when FPV is going to be installed on hydropower reservoirs [38,40]. Therefore, costs for transmission line can be eliminated. ...
A sound potential against energy dependency and climate change challenges: Floating photovoltaics on water reservoirs of Turkey
Article
  • Feb 2023
  • RENEW ENERG
Energy security and climate change are among the top priority challenges for Turkey. High dependency on imported resources jeopardizes the economy, especially with high currency rate and conflicts in neighboring countries from where Turkey imports its energy. Besides, Turkey has already started to experience the impacts of climate change such as increasing temperature along with drought. Floating photovoltaics have proven themselves to be quite efficient in energy production, with evaporation reduction as a positive externality. The purpose of this article is to reveal the possible capacity of floating photovoltaics on constructed water reservoirs of Turkey and draw policy perspectives against existing or anticipated challenges. A total of 4,003 reservoirs were analyzed based on different water surface coverage scenarios. The results of the study proposed 125 TWh electricity generation, slightly above 40% of the nation-wide electricity demand, when 10% of suitable reservoirs were covered. This generation would be highly instrumental in reducing energy dependency and substituting renewables for conventional resource uses. Avoided CO2, thanks to this substitution, was calculated to be 77.1 Mton equivalent. This would obviously be favorable in light of the carbon emission reduction policy of the country and Paris Agreement requirements. Moreover, 1,242.1 hm3 freshwater was assessed to save resources from evaporation loss, which would help to mitigate the climate change pressure on water resources.
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... Further research is also required around the more focused development of the FPV assessment technology towards a model extension for pairing floating PV with natural gas-fired power plants or hydropower plants (Farfan and Breyer, 2018;Gadzanku et al., 2022a). While hydro-electric hybridisation with floating PV establishes a modern trend in FPV development and greenhouse gas control (Kakoulaki et al., 2022;Quaranta et al., 2021), the integration of floating photovoltaics into hydropower reservoirs would offer remarkable benefits in terms of the generation of power that can attain an increase in hydropower capacity and efficiency thanks to the FPV system reducing water evaporation losses (Gupta, 2021;Sterl et al., 2022;Turner and Voisin, 2022). ...
A geo-informatics approach to sustainability assessments of floatovoltaic (floating photovoltaic) technology
Thesis
Full-text available
  • May 2023
Floating Solar PV (FSPV, FPV or floatovoltaics) is an emerging decentralised energy concept in climate-smart agriculture that is quickly becoming a trend in water-rich regions with high land costs, land scarcity and underutilised water areas. FPV technology has excellent environmental compatibility properties, assists in shrinking a farm's carbon footprint, aids farms in decarbonisation towards a net-zero emissions goal, while supporting sustainable energy development towards better carbon taxation and green energy certification in sustainable farming ventures. Amidst a rapidly growing international interest in floating PV and agrivoltaic solutions as climate-solver technologies, current knowledge gaps around its environmental and energy-water-land resource impact uncertainties are the main barriers to floatovoltaic installation deployments. Current FPV performance and impact assessment methodologies still need to overcome critical knowledge gaps constraining fully functional evidence-based scientific assessments as a mandatory requirement to regulatory project permissions prescribed by law. This doctoral dissertation investigates the characterisation and quantification of floating photovoltaic power performance benefits, environmental impact offsets and economic sustainability profiles in a theoretical PV performance model-driven water-energy-land-food resource features. With FPV as natural resource preservation energy technology touching issues along the interplaying water-energy-land-food nexus dimensions (WELF-nexus), a robust validation of the technology's co-benefits and suggested impacts on the nexus of local energy-water-food (EWF) system was lacking. Rethinking environmental sustainability in the FPV context, this research investigation uncovers the root cause of current predictive analytical problems in floating PV characterisation as relating to critical knowledge gaps and modelling challenges in four dimensions: (a) reductionist thinking philosophy as an overwhelming modelling approach engaged by most current PV system assessment models; (b) low-priority role of the natural environmental system and micro-habitat in the integrated systems modelling characterisation of floating PV as a system of systems; (c) inadequate modelling consideration given the water-energy-land nexus system resources and linkages in a unidirectional open-loop linear assessment framework; and (d) modelling framework does not sufficiently cater for systemic interactions in the topological and ontological structures among the PV ecosystem components. Aiming to find a holistic systems thinking solution, the fourth industrial revolution offers information technology principles that enable subject-matter expert knowledge integration into the virtualization of intelligent energy production models using digital twin technology. As operational research paradigms for floating PV modelling, 4IR in digital twinning enables the study to define a new integrated theoretical framework for sustainability evaluation. Towards simulation analysis, this pluralistic-type systemic intervention can account for the extended range of resource-use-efficiencies and impact-effect-positives of floating PV technology in a computer-aided analysis-by-synthesis technique. While comparing the performances of FPV and GPV systems, this study makes a case for the systematisation of sustainability knowledge in the technogenic assessment for floating PV installations through the co-simulation modelling of a novel integrated technical energy-environmental-economic scientific sustainability assessment framework concept. This institutionalised sustainability framework mechanism drives the computer program logic and architecture in a computer synthesis methodology, to assess the integrative technological, economic and natural environmental system attributes in a pluralistic system dynamical way. The approach is further novel in that it covers both short-term and long-term perspectives in a cascaded closed-loop feedback system, with inter-domain feedback memory in a real-time computer synthesis methodology ensuring causal framework ontology modelling. The proposed sustainability definition and systemic framework policy for geospatial sustainability assessment offer a complex appraisal method and modelling technique that supports project decision-making in broad-spectrum environmental, economic and technical contexts that transcends the conventional technically biased scientific evaluation inherited from ground-mounted photovoltaics. The proposed theoretical reference framework and modelling technique offer multidimensional sustainability indicator dimensions, thus addressing critical decision-making domain elements focussed on by impact assessment practitioners, investment stakeholders and subject experts. The scientific investigation and results confer valuable insights into the value-laden sustainability qualities of FPV in pre-qualifying project-assessment experiments for future planned floating solar projects. The theoretical modelling, simulation and characterisation of floatovoltaic technology offer a data collection toolset for duly required scientific evidence of sustainability traits of the technology in support of the adoption, regularisation and licensing of floating photovoltaic renewable energy system installations. The research advances fresh philosophical ideas with novel theoretical principles that may have far-reaching international implications for developing floatovoltaic, agrivoltaic and ground-mounted PV performance models worldwide. ~ https://hdl.handle.net/10500/30091
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Climate impacts in the Brazilian energy security: Analysis of observed events and adaptation options
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2021
Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, which can affect energy systems. Thus, this study aims to evaluate impacts of meteorological events on the Brazilian energy system, through an analysis of recent reports. Cases of impacts on hydropower, power transmission and distribution, bioenergy crops and residential cooling demand in recent years are assessed. Finally, the challenges of energy planning in the face of climate change are analyzed and adaptation measures for the energy system are proposed, pointing out possible repercussions on water, food, socio-environmental and climate security.
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Global Energy System based on 100% Renewable Energy - Power Sector
Technical Report
Full-text available
  • Nov 2017
Technical Report "Global Energy System based on 100% Renewable Energy – Power Sector", published at the Global Renewable Energy Solutions Showcase event (GRESS), a side event of the COP23, Bonn, November 8, 2017 A global transition to 100% renewable electricity is feasible at every hour throughout the year and more cost effective than the existing system, which is largely based on fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Energy transition is no longer a question of technical feasibility or economic viability, but of political will. Existing renewable energy potential and technologies, including storage can generate sufficient and secure power to cover the entire global electricity demand by 2050 . The world population is expected to grow from 7.3 to 9.7 billion. The global electricity demand for the power sector is set to increase from 24,310 TWh in 2015 to around 48,800 TWh by 2050. Total levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) on a global average for 100% renewable electricity in 2050 is 52 €/MWh (including curtailment, storage and some grid costs), compared to 70 €/MWh in 2015. Solar PV and battery storage drive most of the 100% renewable electricity supply due to a significant decline in costs during the transition. Due to rapidly falling costs, solar PV and battery storage increasingly drive most of the electricity system, with solar PV reaching some 69%, wind energy 18%, hydropower 8% and bioenergy 2% of the total electricity mix in 2050 globally. Wind energy increases to 32% by 2030. Beyond 2030 solar PV becomes more competitive. Solar PV supply share increases from 37% in 2030 to about 69% in 2050. Batteries are the key supporting technology for solar PV. Storage output covers 31% of the total demand in 2050, 95% of which is covered by batteries alone. Battery storage provides mainly short-term (diurnal) storage, and renewable energy based gas provides seasonal storage. 100% renewables bring GHG emissions in the electricity sector down to zero, drastically reduce total losses in power generation and create 36 million jobs by 2050. Global greenhouse gas emissions significantly reduce from about 11 GtCO2eq in 2015 to zero emissions by 2050 or earlier, as the total LCOE of the power system declines. The global energy transition to a 100% renewable electricity system creates 36 million jobs by 2050 in comparison to 19 million jobs in the 2015 electricity system. Operation and maintenance jobs increase from 20% of the total direct energy jobs in 2015 to 48% of the total jobs in 2050 that implies more stable employment chances and economic growth globally. The total losses in a 100% renewable electricity system are around 26% of the total electricity demand, compared to the current system in which about 58% of the primary energy input is lost.
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Floating photovoltaic plants and wastewater basins: an Australian project
Article
Full-text available
  • Oct 2017
Floating photovoltaic is a new design solution for photovoltaic (PV) power plants; Floating PV systems (FPVSs) are normally installed on water bodies such as natural lakes or dams reservoirs, and offshore solutions are also investigated. Such technology has attracted increased worldwide attention since 2007 and medium and large FPVSs have already been deployed in several countries, such as Japan, South Korea, India and USA. The cost effectiveness of FPVS increases dramatically if the floating structure performs also other tasks, for instance the reduction of water evaporation. In this context, the possibility to integrate PV plants with the existing basins for wastewater treatment is explored; a compact FPVS without tracking with optimal orientation and distance among rows is suggested as the most simple and economic design solution. Some test cases in South Australia are suggested and analysed.
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GROWTH REGIONS IN PHOTOVOLTAICS 2016 - UPDATE ON LATEST GLOBAL SOLAR MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Conference Paper
Full-text available
  • Sep 2017
The installed capacity of photovoltaics (PV) shows a constant growth. The major part of PV is installed in highly developed countries. Further, there is an increasing number of emerging markets that show high growth rates of cumulative and annual PV installations. However, reliable installation rates for PV are available only for a small number of countries. Not only in emerging markets, even for some developed countries exact numbers of cumulative PV installation are rarely available. For the end of 2016 IRENA reports 2900.98 GWp of globally installed PV capacity, giving clear national specific data for 147 countries. IEA PVPS provides a number of 303.00 GWp installed by providing detailed data for 30 countries. This paper gives an overview of installed PV capacities for all countries in the world based on the examination of publically accessible data. Furthermore, an analysis of the development of cumulative PV installations in recent years is given. Resulting from this evaluation, PV installations are localized in 196 countries, representing 305.78 GWp.
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GROWTH REGIONS IN PHOTOVOLTAICS 2016 - UPDATE ON LATEST GLOBAL SOLAR MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Presentation
Full-text available
  • Sep 2017
The installed capacity of photovoltaics (PV) shows a constant growth. The major part of PV is installed in highly developed countries. Further, there is an increasing number of emerging markets that show high growth rates of cumulative and annual PV installations. However, reliable installation rates for PV are available only for a small number of countries. Not only in emerging markets, even for some developed countries exact numbers of cumulative PV installation are rarely available. For the end of 2016 IRENA reports 2900.98 GWp of globally installed PV capacity, giving clear national specific data for 147 countries. IEA PVPS provides a number of 303.00 GWp installed by providing detailed data for 30 countries. This paper gives an overview of installed PV capacities for all countries in the world based on the examination of publically accessible data. Furthermore, an analysis of the development of cumulative PV installations in recent years is given. Resulting from this evaluation, PV installations are localized in 196 countries, representing 305.78 GWp.
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Solar photovoltaics demand for the global energy transition in the power sector
Article
  • Aug 2018
  • PROG PHOTOVOLTAICS
The power sector is faced with strict requirements in reducing harmful emissions and substantially increasing the level of sustainability. Renewable energy (RE) in general and solar photovoltaic (PV) in particular can offer societally beneficial solutions. The LUT energy system transition model is used to simulate a cost-optimised transition pathway towards 100% RE in the power sector by 2050. The model is based on hourly resolution for an entire year, the world structured in 145 regions, high spatial resolution of the input RE resource data, and transition steps of 5-year periods. The global average solar PV electricity generation contribution is found to be about 69% in 2050, the highest ever reported. Detailed energy transition results are presented for representative countries in the world, namely, Poland, Britain and Ireland, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Ethiopia, and Indonesia. The global average energy system levelised cost of electricity gradually declines from 70 €/MWh in 2015 to 52 €/MWh in 2050 throughout the transition period, while deep decarbonisation of more than 95% around 2040, referenced to 2015, would be possible. The targets of the Paris Agreement can be well achieved in the power sector, while increasing societal welfare, given strong policy leadership.
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An energy transition pathway for Turkey to achieve 100% renewable energy powered electricity, desalination and non-energetic industrial gas demand sectors by 2050
Article
  • Dec 2017
  • SOL ENERGY
an hourly resolved model. Turkey is structured into seven geographical regions and all assumptions and data are collected and applied separately for the regions. The energy transition is simulated for two scenarios: a power sector scenario and power sector plus desalination and non-energetic industrial gas demand (integrated) scenario. Turkey has an enormous solar energy potential, which leads to an installed solar PV capacity of 287 GW (71% of total installed capacity) in the power scenario and 387 GW (73% of total installed capacity) in the integrated scenario in 2050. Solar PV and other installed RE systems are balanced by storage systems to increase the flexibility of the system. Levelised cost of electricity increased slightly in the power scenario, from a fossil fuel based system with 63 €/MWhel in 2015 to a fully RE-based system with 65.4 €/MWhel in 2050. The capacity mix in the power scenario entirely built for the assumptions of the year 2050 led to a cost of 51 €/MWhel, which can also be expected in the periods beyond 2050. In the integrated scenario, however, the costs decreased from 60.3 €/MWhel to 57.3 €/MWhel, mainly due to the benefit of sector coupling. A 100% RE system reduces energy import dependency and carbon emissions, while reducing the cost of energy supply.
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A Techno-Economic Study of an Entirely Renewable Energy-Based Power Supply for North America for 2030 Conditions
Article
  • Aug 2017
In this study power generation and demand are matched through a least-cost mix of renewable energy (RE) resources and storage technologies for North America by 2030. The study is performed using an hourly resolved model based on a linear optimization algorithm. The geographical, technical and economic potentials of different forms of RE resources enable the option of building a super grid between different North American regions. North America (including the U.S., Canada and Mexico in this paper), is divided into 20 sub-regions based on their population, demand, area and electricity grid structure. Four scenarios have been evaluated: region-wide, country-wide, area-wide and an integrated scenario. The levelised cost of electricity is found to be quite attractive in such a system, with the range from 63 €/MWh el in a decentralized case and 42 €/MWh el in a more centralized and integrated scenario. Electrical grid interconnections significantly reduce the storage requirement and overall cost of the energy system. Among all RE resources, wind and solar PV are found to be the least-cost options and hence the main contributors to fossil fuel substitution. The results clearly show that a 100% RE-based system is feasible and a real policy option at a modest cost. However, such a tremendous transition will not be possible in a short time if policy-makers, energy investors and other relevant organizations do not support the proposed system.
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DOGES: Deep ocean gravitational energy storage
Article
  • Jul 2017
In isolated or weakly connected power systems, the maximum exploitation of renewable intermittent energy sources can be obtained by means of cost-effective storage technologies. In this paper hydroelectric gravity storage is extended to the deep ocean context. A sturdy cavity full of water is submerged at great depth and the hydraulic work carried out when emptying it and recovered when filling it, constitutes the storage system.The possibility of using this technique, named DOGES: Deep Ocean Gravitational Energy Storage, as well as its costs and technical aspects are discussed. Atolls and oil platforms supplied with floating Photovoltaic (PV) or wind systems connected to DOGES are also discussed.
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Compressed air energy storage integrated with floating photovoltaic plant
Article
  • Oct 2017
Floating photovoltaic (FPV) systems are an emerging technology suitable for large plants, especially, on fresh water basins. We suggest integrating a CAES system to FPV using the pipes, necessary for the buoyancy of the modular raft structure, as a compressed air reservoir. The huge basin thermal inertia allows for an isothermal compression– expansion cycle, which promises high storage efficiency.
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Floating photovoltaic plants: Performance analysis and design solutions
Article
  • Jun 2017
  • RENEW SUST ENERG REV
The analysis of the performance of photovoltaic (PV) installations mounted on a floating platform is performed. Different design solutions for increasing the efficiency and cost effectiveness of floating photovoltaic (FPV) plants are presented and discussed. Specifically, FPV solutions that exploit the advantages of additional features such as tracking, cooling and concentration, are presented. The results of experimental tests are reported and they show a considerable increase in efficiency due to the positive tracking and cooling effects. Gains due to the use of flat reflectors are also analyzed. Finally, the possibility of exploiting the floating structure on water in order to develop an integrated air storage system is presented.
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