Comparison of floating photovoltaic plant with solar photovoltaic plant for energy generation at Jodhpur in India

Abstract

Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) power plant on any water body is a Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) plant that is installed on water, instead of land. The water body may be lake, pond, river, canal etc. This paper attempts to calculate and compare energy generation from 1 MW SPV and FPV power plants at Jodhpur city in India using Excel spreadsheet. FPV power plant has numerous advantages over SPV plant. Some of them are: i) Higher electrical energy generation due to low module temperature; ii) Reduction in water evaporation from the water body and thereby conserving valuable potable water; iii) No land requirement for installing the power plant as FPV system floats on the water; and iv) Reduction in the length of power transmission lines as water bodies such as ponds are always close to inhabited areas. However, cost of installation of FPV increases due to need of floating platform on the water body. The solar radiation data for Jodhpur city are taken from National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) Wind-Solar data portal. The annual global horizontal radiation for the period of January 01st, 2016 to December 31st, 2016 is estimated as 1.98 MWh/m2. The annual performance ratio and capacity utilization factor for 1 MW SPV are estimated as 79.52% and 19.11% respectively. The annual performance ratio and capacity utilization factor for 1 MW FPV are estimated as 81.49% and 19.58% respectively. 1 MW FPV could save 191.174 million litres of water from being evaporated annually. FPV system compared to SPV system is found to have 2.48% higher energy generation annually with 14.56% reduction in average module temperature.