On-Demand Training:
Floating Solar Fundamentals

• Understanding floating solar
  • Definition
  • Advantages
  • Challenges
• Global market trends and adoption of floating solar PV systems
• Environmental benefits and ecological considerations
• Illustration on various floating solar applications

This presentation will cover floating platform design and materials with key areas of discussion on:

• Types of floating platforms:
  • Floating structures
    • Dependent on location onshore/offshore
  • Buoyant Systems
  • Floating Islands
• Key design considerations:
  • Stability
  • Anchoring types and anchoring points
  • Weight distribution and equipment placement
    • Combiner boxes and inverters
  • Invertor location
  • Access to array OSHA ramps
  • Maximizing panel cooling
  • Panel size and number of total watts per float
  • Wind/wave loads requirements
  • Bifacial application maximization
  • Tilt angle requirements, fixed or seasonal tracking
  • Fresh or salt water
  • Made-in-America considerations
• Materials selection:
  • Durability
  • Corrosion resistance
  • Longevity
  • Supply chain considerations
  • Environmental impact recyclability

Additionally, this presentation will also dive into the differences between ground-mounted PV vs. FPV with key areas such as:

• Space utilization comparison < three acres per MW vs. 5 acres
• Site preparation cost, clearing and leveling, geotech
• Shading considerations
• Energy efficiency and natural water cooling
• Water conservation
• Environmental impact and permitting costs
• Installation costs on-site/off-site and labor
• Resilience to climate change
• Operation and maintenance

OWC-INNOSEA will share conclusions from some of its most recent research projects and will provide an overview of key aspects of the FPV market, such as supply chain and cost comparisons with ground mounted PV. More specifically, this presentation will include:

• Long-term O&M friendly design drivers and recommendations from TRUST PV project
• Supply chain evolution since 2015
• Innovation on floaters
• Perspectives for cost comparioson between FPV and ground mounted PV

With over a decade of experience installing, maintaining, and repairing floating photovoltaics of almost every type and manufacturer, Black Beauty Ventures (BBV) has installed over 24 MW of its patented flagship floating PV product in both fish farms and irrigation reservoirs. Using that expertise, this presentation will cover all aspects starting from initial site surveys to long-term maintenance and monitoring. Among the issues to be covered are:

• Site survey: requirements and issues that must be addressed including anchoring requirements, change of water depth and climatic data (insolation, wildlife, wind, snowfall etc.)
• Design, engineering and permitting support
• Logistics, mobilization, and site preparation requirements
• Installation and training
• Electrical wiring, electrical components and interconnection
• Maintenance and monitoring (cleaning, automatic cleaning systems, monitoring, and periodic site inspections)

Duke Energy’s first floating solar project in Florida is now producing clean, renewable energy while helping the company better understand the capabilities of innovative clean energy technologies to benefit Florida customers and communities, now and in the future.

The almost 1 MW floating solar array features more than 1,800 solar panels that float on top of 2 acres of water surface on an existing cooling pond at the Duke Energy Hines Energy Complex in Bartow, Florida. The bifacial solar panels absorb light from both sides, which can produce 10-20% more than their single-sided counterparts.

This presentation will focus on the project management aspects of a floating solar project: schedule, timing, material procurement obstacles, and other lessons learned.

Floating photovoltaics presents unique challenges regarding safety and production. The combination of electricity and water makes safety a priority during both installation and operations. Floating photovoltaics is also more susceptible to the phenomena of mismatched panels potentially reducing the capacity of a series of panels due to soiling or simply the panels being at different angles due to wind or waves. At the 4.5 MW installation at Mitzpe Ramon, installed by Black Beauty Ventures (BBV), this phenomenon was exacerbated by the positioning of floats on the sides of the reservoir. These floats could have a different angle than the rest of the series as they rose and fell with reservoir levels. This presentation will review how BBV overcame the safety issues and mismatch panel issues using the SolarEdge environment of inverters and optimizers which includes rapid shutdown, cybersecurity, and individual panel monitoring.

Drawing from its participation in FPV projects worldwide, including Europe, Asia and Africa, OWC-INNOSEA will present 3 case studies to highlight the key aspects and challenges to be considered for FPV installations in different sites (dam lake, salty water, quarry lake with FPV extension, etc.). Different strategies need to be considered, for each type of application, regarding technology selection, layout and mooring design, installation, maintenance and more.

Orange County Utilities (OCU), based in Orlando, Florida, has taken a unique approach to achieving the County’s goal of 100% County operations electricity load from renewable sources by 2035 – Floating Solar. With limited land and rooftop space available at its facilities, OCU turned to this new and innovative way to deploy renewable energy. Many of OCU’s water treatment facilities have large bodies of water on-site that are perfect candidates for floating solar. OCU bid and was awarded a solar plan at the Southern Regional Water Supply Facility (SRWSF). These systems are part of the utility’s overall goals of utilizing solar energy and reducing energy costs to maximize the operating budget. D3Energy was awarded the bid by OCU and has completed the engineering design, permitting, and construction of the 1.2 MWDC floating solar system in Orlando. This presentation will focus solely on the floating solar system at OCU’s SRWSF and discuss the benefits of using floating solar at this site, the specifics of the project, challenges faced, and successes achieved.