Abstract
Floating solar photovoltaic (FPV) systems have become an increasingly attractive application of photovoltaics (PV) because of land-use constraints, the cost of land and site preparation, and the perceived energy and environmental co-benefits. Despite the increasing interest in FPV systems, a robust validation of their suggested co-benefits and impacts on the nexus of energy, water, and food (EWF) systems is lacking. This information gap makes it challenging for decision makers to justify its adoption—potentially suppressing FPV deployment. To address this gap and to help de-risk this PV deployment opportunity, we (1) review the suggested co-benefits of FPV systems with a focus on the impacts that could alleviate pressures on EWF systems and (2) identify areas where further research is needed to reduce uncertainty around FPV system performance. Our review reveals that EWF nexus-relevant co-benefits, such as improved panel efficiency and reduced land usage, are corroborated in the literature, whereas others, such as water quality impacts, lack empirical evidence. Our findings indicate that further research is needed to quantify the water-related and broader economic, environmental, social, sustainability, justice, and resilience co-benefits and impacts of FPV systems.
Highlights
Our results revealed that most power generation and cost-related co-benefits of Floating solar photovoltaic (FPV) systems are supported by empirical data; further research and empirical evidence are needed to validate several water-related and land-related co-benefits
The results indicate that FPV systems have a higher
Through a deep literature review, we identified and consolidated the empirically supported and unsupported co-benefits of FPV systems
Summary
Water, and food demands have historically been siloed despite the strong interdependence of these resources [1,2,3]. Trends such as population growth, urbanization, and climate change have highlighted the importance of considering the competing demands for EWF resources, drawing awareness to the need for more holistic approaches to sustainably meet global demands [1,2,3,4,5].
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have