By Peggy Hammond March 9, 2018
ISS knows the future is bright for solar energy and supports progressive ways to think about solar farms, so we are pleased to see more news of using water instead of land for solar facilities. With this approach, lakes are the typical stage for building a floating farm, but now the ocean is not out of the question. The Netherlands, South Korea, China, and India are all making a splash.
De Ingenieur (www.deingenieur.nl) announced in February 2018 the Netherlands is taking a step into the future with their plan to use the North Sea as a platform for a solar farm. For the past two years, a Dutch consortium has been testing materials for and studying the variables involved with placing panels in this dynamic environment. Their plan is to have a prototype farm in action by the end of 2018. DutchNews.nl explained the solar facility will be located 9 miles off the coast of Scheveningen in south Holland, and if this enterprise succeeds, most of the country’s power could foreseeably come from solar energy. By 2050, the government of the Netherlands would like all residences to be using alternative energy.
The February 2018 issue of PV Magazine included news South Korea plans to increase their solar capacity by constructing a floating farm on Hwaseong Lake, 43 miles southwest of Seoul. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and solar developer Hwaseong signed a memo of understanding to develop a 100MW farm that will cover 8.3% of the lake’s surface. South Korea sources 7% of its power from renewables, but the government wants to raise that to 20% by 2030.
On January 28, 2018, businessinsider.com reported China’s Anhui province is home to what is currently the world’s largest floating solar array. The 40MW farm, which went operational in 2017, sits on a lake that formed when rains flooded a collapsed coal mine. Currently, China is building in the same province another floating solar facility. This second farm will generate 150MW and is expected to be fully operational in May 2018.
Economic Times reported that in December 2017 India’s state of Kerala, Wayanad district, began operations of a solar farm that floats on 1.25 acres of the Banasura Sagar reservoir. With 1,938 panels situated on 18 platforms, the facility is the largest floating solar plant in India and has a generation capacity of 500kWp (kilowatt peak).
ISS believes in clean energy generated from the sun, and we’ve dedicated ourselves to developing custom utility-scale solar farms. For opportunities to work with ISS, please see our website at www.innovativesolarsystemsllc.com or call John Green (CEO) 828-215-9064.
