With the massive increase of ground-based PV systems, land resources that can be used for the installation and construction of PV systems have become scarce, which limits the future development of PV to some extent. At the same time, as “the third major PV industry” after ground-mounted PV and rooftop PV, floating PV systems slowly approached people’s vision and became known.
A floating photovoltaic system refers to the installation of sets of solar panels on supports that float on the water surface. This not only solves the problem of scarce land resources, expands the application of photovoltaic power generation, but also has the advantage of increasing power generation and protecting water resources.
In 2007, the first official floating photovoltaic system was built in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. As a result, many small floating photovoltaic systems were built in many countries. According to the needs of the photovoltaic market, we also launched a series of floating photovoltaic systems. System products SEFPV bracket, SEFPV aluminum bracket, SEFPV steel bracket three products, each product has single-row and double-row two kinds of design.
Take the assembly product SEFPV as an example. The product consists of the main float, vertical walkway float, anchors, screw set, linen, and other components. The main raw material of the floating body is HDPE, which is manufactured using the extrusion blow molding process. The new design of the GCM buoy solar mount improves the ease of installation. At the same time, if the strength is insufficient, aluminum or steel can be fixed to the floating body more conveniently according to the design of the floating body; Unlike most existing float mounts on the market, the new float can be customized to the specifications of traditional plates in all markets. Customers don’t have to worry about replacing the entire prop due to incorrect blade specifications. The adaptation of the uniform specification of the flotation system can also be transferred to the use of different customer sheets. The utilization rate of the floating blade body support is increased and unnecessary worries for customers are reduced.
Compared with traditional PV power stations, floating PV systems install PV solar panels on floating bodies on the water surface, which has several advantages:
- No need to occupy land: After years of construction and development, the interpretation of terrestrial photovoltaic became strongly limited due to the scarce resources of the earth and the influence of the environment. Although the development of deserts and mountains can expand to a certain extent, this is still a symptom and not a cause. With the development of floating photovoltaic technology, this new type of photovoltaic system does not need to grab valuable land with residents, but resorts to a larger water area, complementing the advantages of land-based photovoltaic systems and achieving multiple win-win results.
- Convenient construction and dismantling: Compared with ground-based PV systems, floating PV systems do not have a fixed structure like a foundation, which is convenient for construction, and even can be completely dismantled later.
- Saving water resources and improving water quality: the cover of solar panels can reduce water evaporation. Floating photovoltaic systems can be built in a variety of water bodies, whether it is natural lakes, artificial reservoirs, coal mine subsidence areas, or sewage treatment plants, as long as there is a certain amount of water, the devices can be installed. When the floating power plant meets the latter, it can not only regenerate the “wastewater” into a new power plant carrier but also reduce evaporation by covering the water surface and inhibiting the growth of microorganisms in the water to achieve water purification.
- Efficiency improvement: The floating PV system has a natural water-cooling system, and the wind speed on the water is generally higher, which also contributes to the cooling of the PV module. At the same time, since the sky is clear and the light is sufficient, the power generation efficiency can be greatly improved. With the expansion of the scale of photovoltaic systems and the deepening of research into photovoltaic technology, the cost of solar energy is also falling. Floating PV is no longer an option for the future. The age of floating photovoltaics has dawned. We will pursue the same goal of developing more efficient and widespread floating photovoltaic systems and contributing to the green development of the country.