Innovative Floating Bifacial Photovoltaic Solutions for Inland Water Areas

Hesan Ziar; Bjorn Prudon; Fen-Yu Lin; Bart Roeffen; Dennis Heijkoop; Tim Stark; S. Teurlincx; Lisette de Senerpont Domis; Elias Garcia Goma; Julen Garro Extebarria; Ignacio Narvaez Alavez; Daniel van Tilborg; Hein van Laar; Rudi Santbergen; Olindo Isabella

doi:10.1002/pip.3367

Innovative Floating Bifacial Photovoltaic Solutions for Inland Water Areas

Hesan Ziar (Corresponding author), Bjorn Prudon, Fen-Yu Lin, Bart Roeffen, Dennis Heijkoop, Tim Stark, S. Teurlincx, Lisette de Senerpont Domis, Elias Garcia Goma, Julen Garro Extebarria, Ignacio Narvaez Alavez, Daniel van Tilborg, Hein van Laar, Rudi Santbergen, Olindo Isabella

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodical › Article › Scientific › peer-review

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Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) technology has the potential to be integrated on many surfaces in various environments, even on water. Modeling, design, and realization of a floating PV system have more challenges than conventional rooftop or freestanding PV system. In this work, we introduce two innovative concepts for floating bifacial PV systems, describing their modeling, design, and performance monitoring. The developed concepts are retractable and enable maximum energy production through tracking the Sun. Various floating PV systems (monofacial, bifacial with and without reflectors) with different tilts and tracking capabilities are installed on a Dutch pond and are being monitored. Results of the thermal study showed that partially soaking the frame of PV modules into water does not bring a considerable additional yield (+0.17%) and revealed that floating PV modules experience higher temperature special variance compared with land‐based systems. Observations showed that the birds' presence has a severe effect on floating PV performance in the short term. Electrical yield investigation concluded that due to low albedo of inland water areas (~6.5%), bifacial PV systems must have reflectors. One‐year monitoring showed that a bifacial PV system with reflector and horizontal tracking delivers ~17.3% more specific yield (up to 29% in a clear‐sky month) compared with a monofacial PV system installed on land. Ecological monitoring showed no discernable impacts on the water quality in weekly samplings but did show significant impacts on the aquatic plant biomass and periods of low oxygen concentrations.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	725-743
Journal	Progress in Photovoltaics : Research and Applications
Volume	29
Issue number	7
Early online date	2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3367
Publication status	Published - 2021

Keywords

international
Plan_S-Compliant_TA
bifacial PV
ecology
floating PV (FPV)
island
modeling
monitoring
onshore
partial water soaking
photovoltaic (PV) module
PV system
realization
retractable
tracker

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10.1002/pip.3367Licence: CC BY

7067_ZiarFinal published version, 5.9 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Ziar, H., Prudon, B., Lin, F.-Y., Roeffen, B., Heijkoop, D., Stark, T., Teurlincx, S., de Senerpont Domis, L., Garcia Goma, E., Garro Extebarria, J., Narvaez Alavez, I., van Tilborg, D., van Laar, H., Santbergen, R., & Isabella, O. (2021). Innovative Floating Bifacial Photovoltaic Solutions for Inland Water Areas. Progress in Photovoltaics : Research and Applications, 29(7), 725-743. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3367

@article{404f3ae93d9840299985983201404fa2,

title = "Innovative Floating Bifacial Photovoltaic Solutions for Inland Water Areas",

abstract = "Photovoltaic (PV) technology has the potential to be integrated on many surfaces in various environments, even on water. Modeling, design, and realization of a floating PV system have more challenges than conventional rooftop or freestanding PV system. In this work, we introduce two innovative concepts for floating bifacial PV systems, describing their modeling, design, and performance monitoring. The developed concepts are retractable and enable maximum energy production through tracking the Sun. Various floating PV systems (monofacial, bifacial with and without reflectors) with different tilts and tracking capabilities are installed on a Dutch pond and are being monitored. Results of the thermal study showed that partially soaking the frame of PV modules into water does not bring a considerable additional yield (+0.17%) and revealed that floating PV modules experience higher temperature special variance compared with land‐based systems. Observations showed that the birds' presence has a severe effect on floating PV performance in the short term. Electrical yield investigation concluded that due to low albedo of inland water areas (~6.5%), bifacial PV systems must have reflectors. One‐year monitoring showed that a bifacial PV system with reflector and horizontal tracking delivers ~17.3% more specific yield (up to 29% in a clear‐sky month) compared with a monofacial PV system installed on land. Ecological monitoring showed no discernable impacts on the water quality in weekly samplings but did show significant impacts on the aquatic plant biomass and periods of low oxygen concentrations.",

keywords = "international, Plan_S-Compliant_TA, bifacial PV, ecology, floating PV (FPV), island, modeling, monitoring, onshore, partial water soaking, photovoltaic (PV) module, PV system, realization, retractable, tracker",

author = "Hesan Ziar and Bjorn Prudon and Fen-Yu Lin and Bart Roeffen and Dennis Heijkoop and Tim Stark and S. Teurlincx and {de Senerpont Domis}, Lisette and {Garcia Goma}, Elias and {Garro Extebarria}, Julen and {Narvaez Alavez}, Ignacio and {van Tilborg}, Daniel and {van Laar}, Hein and Rudi Santbergen and Olindo Isabella",

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year = "2021",

doi = "10.1002/pip.3367",

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Ziar, H, Prudon, B, Lin, F-Y, Roeffen, B, Heijkoop, D, Stark, T, Teurlincx, S , de Senerpont Domis, L, Garcia Goma, E, Garro Extebarria, J, Narvaez Alavez, I, van Tilborg, D, van Laar, H, Santbergen, R & Isabella, O 2021, 'Innovative Floating Bifacial Photovoltaic Solutions for Inland Water Areas', Progress in Photovoltaics : Research and Applications, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 725-743. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3367

TY - JOUR

T1 - Innovative Floating Bifacial Photovoltaic Solutions for Inland Water Areas

AU - Ziar, Hesan

AU - Prudon, Bjorn

AU - Lin, Fen-Yu

AU - Roeffen, Bart

AU - Heijkoop, Dennis

AU - Stark, Tim

AU - Teurlincx, S.

AU - de Senerpont Domis, Lisette

AU - Garcia Goma, Elias

AU - Garro Extebarria, Julen

AU - Narvaez Alavez, Ignacio

AU - van Tilborg, Daniel

AU - van Laar, Hein

AU - Santbergen, Rudi

AU - Isabella, Olindo

N1 - 7067, AqE: Data Archiving: data is property of TUDelft (lead authors)

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Photovoltaic (PV) technology has the potential to be integrated on many surfaces in various environments, even on water. Modeling, design, and realization of a floating PV system have more challenges than conventional rooftop or freestanding PV system. In this work, we introduce two innovative concepts for floating bifacial PV systems, describing their modeling, design, and performance monitoring. The developed concepts are retractable and enable maximum energy production through tracking the Sun. Various floating PV systems (monofacial, bifacial with and without reflectors) with different tilts and tracking capabilities are installed on a Dutch pond and are being monitored. Results of the thermal study showed that partially soaking the frame of PV modules into water does not bring a considerable additional yield (+0.17%) and revealed that floating PV modules experience higher temperature special variance compared with land‐based systems. Observations showed that the birds' presence has a severe effect on floating PV performance in the short term. Electrical yield investigation concluded that due to low albedo of inland water areas (~6.5%), bifacial PV systems must have reflectors. One‐year monitoring showed that a bifacial PV system with reflector and horizontal tracking delivers ~17.3% more specific yield (up to 29% in a clear‐sky month) compared with a monofacial PV system installed on land. Ecological monitoring showed no discernable impacts on the water quality in weekly samplings but did show significant impacts on the aquatic plant biomass and periods of low oxygen concentrations.

AB - Photovoltaic (PV) technology has the potential to be integrated on many surfaces in various environments, even on water. Modeling, design, and realization of a floating PV system have more challenges than conventional rooftop or freestanding PV system. In this work, we introduce two innovative concepts for floating bifacial PV systems, describing their modeling, design, and performance monitoring. The developed concepts are retractable and enable maximum energy production through tracking the Sun. Various floating PV systems (monofacial, bifacial with and without reflectors) with different tilts and tracking capabilities are installed on a Dutch pond and are being monitored. Results of the thermal study showed that partially soaking the frame of PV modules into water does not bring a considerable additional yield (+0.17%) and revealed that floating PV modules experience higher temperature special variance compared with land‐based systems. Observations showed that the birds' presence has a severe effect on floating PV performance in the short term. Electrical yield investigation concluded that due to low albedo of inland water areas (~6.5%), bifacial PV systems must have reflectors. One‐year monitoring showed that a bifacial PV system with reflector and horizontal tracking delivers ~17.3% more specific yield (up to 29% in a clear‐sky month) compared with a monofacial PV system installed on land. Ecological monitoring showed no discernable impacts on the water quality in weekly samplings but did show significant impacts on the aquatic plant biomass and periods of low oxygen concentrations.

KW - international

KW - Plan_S-Compliant_TA

KW - bifacial PV

KW - ecology

KW - floating PV (FPV)

KW - island

KW - modeling

KW - monitoring

KW - onshore

KW - partial water soaking

KW - photovoltaic (PV) module

KW - PV system

KW - realization

KW - retractable

KW - tracker

U2 - 10.1002/pip.3367

DO - 10.1002/pip.3367

M3 - Article

SN - 1099-159X

VL - 29

SP - 725

EP - 743

JO - Progress in Photovoltaics : Research and Applications

JF - Progress in Photovoltaics : Research and Applications

IS - 7

ER -

Innovative Floating Bifacial Photovoltaic Solutions for Inland Water Areas

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Keywords

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