Conceptual design of a novel partially floating photovoltaic integrated with smart energy storage and management system for Egyptian North Lakes

Abstract

With the recent increase in energy demand due to social, development and economic reasons in Egypt, solar energy is one of the most abundant renewable energy resources which can be utilized to meet these needs. Although Photovoltaic (PV) technology has been used with large scale in Egypt in different applications, it's still suffering from losing its efficiency due to high temperature, dust accumulation which is common in Egypt especially in spring and summer seasons, besides the intense land requirements and power intermittency. Therefore, a novel partially floating modular PV system is proposed in this study to supply rural areas around the Egyptian North Lakes with green electricity. The PV system is integrated with a hybrid compressed air energy storage system and managed with a smart energy management strategy to extend its operating hours and enables its day and night continuous operation. The smart system also enables different operational modes of the PV system which includes sun tracking, cleaning, cooling, and surviving modes. The aim of this study is to introduce the conceptual design of the proposed concept and the smart controlling system, its different operational modes, the supporting platform and its hydrodynamics performance.