Floatovoltaics: Towards Improved Energy Efficiency, Land and Water Management
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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET) Volume 9, Issue 7, July 2018, pp. 1089–1096, Article ID: IJCIET_09_07_114 Available online at http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJCIET?Volume=9&Issue=7 ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316 © IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed FLOATOVOLTAICS: TOWARDS IMPROVED ENERGY EFFICIENCY, LAND AND WATER MANAGEMENT Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bharat Institute of Engineering and Technology, Telangana, India JayannaKanchikere, P. Mallikarjun Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, St. Peter’s Engineering College, Hydearabad, India ABSTRACT Land and water management is becoming a serious issue with the rise of new and alternative energy conversion devices. Especially with the adoption of large scale solar photovoltaics systems, the need for land usage has been increased. This raised a conflict between solar energy producing owners to land conservation agencies and agricultural societies. To address this, a new photovoltaic system installation method on water surface is introduced. This new trend in photovoltaic installations i.e. ‘Floatovoltaics’ aims to provide improved energy efficiencies, and a solution to land and water management. Experts believe it could be, but do we have any shreds of evidences on what levels it could contribute to efficiency, land use mitigation, and water management. Here, a study has been carried out outlining the possible benefits of Floatovoltaics along with valid discussion. Key words: Photovoltaics, Floatovoltaics, PV on water surface, land and water management, temperature effect on PV, improved energy performance, benefits of Floatovoltaics. Cite this Article: Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar, JayannaKanchikere, P. Mallikarjun, Floatovoltaics: Towards Improved Energy Efficiency, Land and Water Management, International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 9(7), 2018, pp. 1089- 1096. http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJCIET?Volume=9&Issue=7 1. INTRODUCTION Many see photovoltaics as viable alternative energy for increasing the electricity generation as per the demand and for providing energy access [1, 2]. In recent years, we could see the ever possible market growth in solar PV, new developments, trends in installations, and wide applications, etc. [3] As per the REN21.2017 (Renewables 2017 Global Status Report), the status of global solar PV system capacity seen to be 303 GWdc (as on 2016), and only in the http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1089 [email protected] Floatovoltaics: Towards Improved Energy Efficiency, Land and Water Management year 2016, around 75 GWdc was added. Across the globe, a minimum of 31,000 PV modules was installed in a year [4]. Price drop, particularly for PV modules, energy demand rise, and government policies, gave positive attraction for new players to enter the PV industry. Presently, a significant growth on a global level can be seen, but it may or may not be continued if the land use management for solar PV is not done effectively. Hence, the shared use of land and other possibilities must be considered. As per NREL study report, a typical large-scale PV plants of capacity in the range of 1-20 MW could need around 0.0166 Sq. m/kWh/yr or 0.0336 Sq. m/WAC [5]. Recent statistics by REN21. 2017 says that densely populated countries like China and India are in the top positions where the solar PV investments, capacities are rapidly increasing accounting for 85% on an average [4]. In countries where the population is huge, PV installation growth would be in a serious situation facing land use conflicts to accommodating the lives and various other resources required for survival than to the PV modules. Hence, shared use of land and other possibilities must be explored. In a recent article published in Renewable Energy Focus, the concept of shared use land with rail strictures proposed [6]. Similarly, we have other options like a roof top, façade, Floatovoltaics, submerged, etc. Among these, Floatovoltaics and building integrated PV are gaining a commercial attraction nowadays. In this article, concentration is only on Floatovoltaics and how they could contribute to improved energy efficiencies in PV, land use and water management. 2. FLOATOVOLTAICS Floatovoltaics is the new method proposed for solar photovoltaic system installation over the water bodies. Here, the PV systems are made to float on the water body by using various floats, i.e., include mooring, pontoon, etc. Floatovoltaics, as of now not seen much commercial value in comparison with land-based PV systems or other configurations. In recent years, we could see the demand for photovoltaics is increasing in few countries like Australia, Brazil, Italy, India, Japan, Korea, USA, and few others [7, 8]. The name Floatovoltaics has arrived based on the installation procedure and on which medium it installed. The name Floatovoltaics is nothing to deal with principal of operation and the electrical components required. Like the conventional land based photovoltaic systems, Floatovoltaics systems are having the components like PV modules, power converters (DC-DC converter, DC-AC converter), string boxes, transformers, electrical storage systems like battery or other on-board storage facilities [9, 10]. Apart from these components they extra components like floating support system, anchoring provision or mooring systems. However, the following points should be considered during the Floatovoltaics installation: Try to select the thin film photovoltaic module due to the weight constraints, these thin-films are generally available in lower weights compared to other crystalline ones. Should considered the best floating structures or floats. Make sure that, the degradation of floats after long exposure to water and sun would not cause damage to the water bodies and other aquatic life. Weight balance is the most important point that need to be cross verified. On-board storage systems must be chosen based on requirement. http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1090 [email protected] Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar, JayannaKanchikere, P. Mallikarjun Figure 1 Far Niente floating PV (Source: https://www.eniday.com/en/technology_en/floating-solar- efficient-energy/) Figure 1 [11], explains the concept of Floatovoltaics installation on the water body near the agricultural fields. Also, a land-based PV is shown in the same figure to make us understand the difference between Floatovoltaics and land-based PV systems.Here, in the Figure 1, am image of already installed solar power plant at the Far Niente are is shown. Photovoltaic modules were connected in series and parallel configuration, making it as large photovoltaic array. Later, a floating structure i.e. floats see in Figure 2, [12] was developed with a provision of equipping the photovoltaic array. In this installation, almost 80% of the water body was covered with the photovoltaic panels. After this, the entire solar PV plant is tied using mooring system, see in Figure 3. Here, the PV modules are installed at horizontal tilt i.e. zero degree, but however, installation at certain tilt angles is also possible. Figure 2 Floats as a PV panel mounting structures (Source: AQVAFLOAT, UK) http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1091 [email protected] Floatovoltaics: Towards Improved Energy Efficiency, Land and Water Management Figure 3 Mooring of a floating solar PV Floatovoltaics system of installation does not waste the land but it mainly uses the water bodies that already existed. Few of the water bodies where the Floatovoltaics best fit are listed below: Fresh water basins Waste water basins Industrial basins Hydro-electric basins (already equipped and grid connected). Natural lakes Lagoons (Bays, Ponds etc.) Sea water bodies Fresh water rivers 3. COMPARISON WITH OTHER PV INSTALLATIONS Floatovoltaics system of installation is compared with the possible installation and details comparison is shown in Table 1. Here, the Floatovoltaics is compared with the roof mounted photovoltaics system [9, 13], ground mounted photovoltaic system [9, 14], building integrated photovoltaic system [15], building attached or applied photovoltaic system [13, 15], Agri- voltaic systems [16, 17], and grape voltaic systems [16]. This comparison majorly concentrates on the possible installation sites or areas, contribution to water management, contribution to land management, and performance ratio (%). For this a survey has been done based on the various research articles available in the literature. From this comparative study, most of the available photovoltaic system installation contribute to the land management with reasonable performance ratios. But the only one PV installations i.e. Floatovoltaics is found to contribute to both the water management as well as land management along with the improved energy performance.In the Table 1, performance ratio levels are identified in among themselves in comparison with each other. This might vary from location to location and on the influence of other parameters. http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1092 [email protected] Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar, JayannaKanchikere, P. Mallikarjun Table 1Performance and benefits comparison of other photovoltaic installations (Roof mount, ground mount, open rack, BIPV & BAPV, Agri-voltaic with Floatovoltaics. Possible Contribution Contribution Performance Description of Installation to Water to Land Ratio Solar PV Sites Management Management Building Roof Mounted roofs (flat Photovoltaic No Yes Medium or pitched