Floating solar power plants have gone from a super niche sector of the solar market in 2012 and 2013 to a pretty popular option in 2020. It’s still not anywhere near as mature as on-land utility-scale solar power, though, so it seems sensible to pull the industry together and collect useful tips and experience for a set of recommended practices. Hence a new global consortium to create just that.
Photo courtesy DNV GL
The product from this new global consortium is supposed to be published in the first quarter of 2021. Here are some more details from DNV GL, which is the lead organizer of the consortium: “DNV GL has launched a collaborative joint industry project (JIP) with 14 industry participants to develop the industry’s first recommended practice (RP) for floating solar power projects. The planned recommended practice (RP) will provide a commonly recognised standard based on a list of technical requirements for developing safe, reliable and sustainable floating solar projects. …
“Following the first projects in 2006, installed capacity for floating solar power was just 10 MW by 2015 but has accelerated considerably since then, reaching 3 GWpeak by the end of 2019. It is estimated that the total global potential capacity for deploying floating solar power on manmade, inland waters alone could be as high as 4 TW.
“Despite this huge potential, there are as yet no harmonized standard approaches to developing floating solar power projects and no industry standards to ensure quality. This makes it difficult for investors, regulators and other stakeholders to have confidence in planned projects and to enforce relevant requirements, which could potentially put a break on the technology’s growth.
“Responding to the industry’s need, DNV GL launched an initiative to develop a floating solar recommended practice via its industry-based, collaborative JIP (Joint Industry Project) approach. DNV GL has put together an international consortium of leading companies from the offshore, solar and floating structure manufacturing industries.
“The JIP will look at all aspects of developing floating solar projects on inland and inshore waters. It will focus on five key topics: site conditions assessment, energy yield forecast, mooring & anchoring systems, floating structures, permitting and environmental impact.”
The list of consortium members and their home countries is as follows:
- BayWa r.e. (Germany)
- Blue C Engineering (Germany)
- Carpi Tech/Makor Energy (Switzerland/Israel)
- Ciel & Terre International (France)
- Compagnie Nationale du Rhone (France)
- DNV GL (Norway)
- EDF – Électricité de France (France)
- EDP – Energias de Portugal S.A. (Portugal)
- Equinor (Norway)
- Isigenere (Spain)
- Mainstream Renewable Power (UK)
- Noria Energy (USA)
- Scatec Solar (Norway)
- Seaflex (Sweden)
- Statkraft (Norway)
Stay tuned for a lot more floating solar power growth in the 2020s!
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