Floating Solar Potential Assessment

Abstract

India has a huge energy demand, and renewable energy is the most promising solution for meeting this demand. Solar energy is a promising renewable energy resource that is clean, eco-friendly, and abundant in nature. India is endowed with a vast amount of solar energy potential. Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) is predicted to be a better form of solar energy, which is reliable, affordable, and sustainable. It potentially solves land scarcity and cost because it can be constructed over any stable water surface like a lake, pond, reservoir, river, etc. Moreover, it generates more amount of power because of the cooling effect of water. The FPV technology has still not realized its potential in developing countries like India. This study aims to calculate and compare the energy generation, performance ratio, capacity utilization factor, cost analysis, evaporation reduction, and greenhouse gas emissions for 1 MW FPV and 1 MW Ground-mounted Photovoltaic (GPV) at Visakhapatnam city in India. The electricity generation from the FPV system is estimated to be 1.5%-3% higher than the GPV system. 1 MW FPV system could save 42 million liters of water from evaporation annually. The cost of electricity for floating solar is 4.1 INR/kWh, which is slightly higher than ground-mounted systems. This study highlights the advantages of using the FPV system over the GPV system in energy generation, water-saving, and efficiency.