Source: www.euronews.com
An innovative floating solar farm Soaking up the rays in the Netherlands.
Proteus, developed by the Portuguese company Solaris Float, is a circular island solar panels Which bounces on water, produces renewable energy.
Prototype power source could be installed in lakes, reservoirs and coastal areas, potentially solving many problems solar technology.
Floating solar farms have been on the scene since 2008.
But Proteus does something that none of its competitors can. its solar panels Can precisely monitor the Sun as it moves across the sky, maximizing energy production.
Earlier this year, the sleek, silver installation was selected as a finalist for the European Inventor Award.
What are floating solar farms capable of?
Named after a Greek sea god who foresaw the future, Proteus is a 38-metre-wide circular solar farm consisting of 180 double-sided panels.
It is situated on Oostvoornes Meer, a lake in the southwest.
On sunny days, the island can produce about 73 kW of electricity.
But, thanks to its two-axis solar panels and unique sun-chasing technologyIt can generate up to 40 percent more energy than non-moving panels land,
Other benefits of the design are that water cooling improves power generation, plus it avoids taking up land, ideal for small densely populated places such as the Netherlands and Japan.
Traditional solar farms are often criticized for the amount of land they occupy.
A study from Leiden University in Netherlands It is estimated that solar farms require approximately 40–50 times the area of coal plants and 90–100 times the land required by gas providers.
Placing solar panels on water could help solve these space issues, along with concerns from conservationists that building solar and wind farms on land threatens habitats.
What are the challenges in developing a floating solar farm?
But floating solar farms face a few hurdles.
The environment they are in is important. especially if installed on corrosive salt WaterThey need to be more sustainable than their land-based counterparts.
This can increase production and installation costs, along with the maintenance required.
Its developers say that the thermoplastic material developed by Proteus prevents early aging and keeps the effects of weather at bay.
Floating solar farms also need to be set up in those areas weak tide and better weatherlimited their roll out to certain areas.
Again researchers are continuing to develop the technology, improving its flexibility and efficiency year after year.
Where else are the floating solar farms?
However, the ability to swim solar That’s great.
In a good location and normal conditions, seven Proteus islands covering an area of 15,000m2 can generate up to 2GW a year, enough to power 1.5 million homes.
from Japan to the United States, technology is booming in every corner of the world.
In a first-of-its-kind report, the World Bank found that floating solar has grown exponentially.
At the end of 2014, the total global installed capacity was 10 megawatts (MW). By September 2018, this figure had increased more than 100 times to 1.1 GW.
One particularly promising region is Asia, according to the World Bank, where interest in the technology is growing rapidly.
This development path Looks ready to continue.
The World Bank report puts the potential energy production of floating solar at 400 GW per year, even under “conservative” assumptions.
One GW is enough to power 750,000 US homes, meaning this technology can provide energy hundreds of millions of people.
Despite its “challenges, floating solar offers significant opportunities for the global expansion of solar power capacity,” the World Bank concluded in a statement.
