Recommended Guidelines For Floating Solar PV

• DNV has published a document with its 24 industry partners to provide a set of common guidelines for FPV projects
• It covers project deployments in sheltered, in-land water bodies and near-shore locations, but doesn't cover offshore installations
• The guidelines are expected to increase trust of investors and governments for these projects while minimizing risk and, avoiding failures and accidents

Norway based global energy consultant DNV, previously DNV GL, along with 24 consortium partners has published some recommendations for the deployment of floating solar power projects, intending the document to be used as a commonly recognized guidance for safe and sustainable operation of floating solar PV (FPV) projects.

The joint industry project (JIP) now titled Recommended Practice (DNVGL-RP-0584) (RP), focuses on 5 key topics, namely site conditions assessment, energy yield forecast, mooring and anchoring systems, floating structures, permitting and environmental impact.

The RP focuses on FPV systems located in sheltered, in-land water bodies while also being applicable for near-shore locations, but doesn't cover offshore installations. To keep it technology neutral, it concentrates on methodologies based on state-of-the-art knowledge and lessons from operational projects.

It covers the technical aspects of a FPV project in terms of designing, building and operating these on and in water, factoring in electrical safety, anchoring and mooring issues, operation and maintenance and designing these plants, to withstand site-specific environmental conditions.

The partners point it out as set of guidelines that can minimize risk while increasing trust, avoiding failures and accidents for such projects.

"Floating solar is an untapped, fast-growing technology with huge potential and I hope this recommended practice will drive the adoption and scaling of this technology to accelerate the pace of the energy transition," said CEO of Energy Systems at DNV, Ditlev Engel. "With collaboration from leading companies around the world, it provides critical reassurance to the likes of investors and governments as well as leaders from across the energy industries that we are able to transition faster to a clean energy future and realize the goals as per the Paris agreement."

It goes back to 2015 when the installed capacity of FPV projects was just 10 MW, but grew to around 2 GW towards the end of 2020. "It is estimated that the total global potential capacity for deploying floating solar power on manmade, inland waters alone could be as high as 4 TW (as estimated by the World Bank) with an expected pipeline of more than 10 GW by 2025," stated DNV. The World Bank report was launched in November 2018 (see World Bank: Gigantic Potential For Floating PV).

The idea of this document was shared back in June 2020 when DNV got 14 industry players to lay down best practice guidelines for such projects, while inviting more partners to join the consortium (see Recommended Practices For Floating Solar).

On a different topic, DNV will speak at TaiyangNews virtual conference on  Solar Trackers on April 13, 2021. DNV's Cesar Hidalgo will present a 'Tracker Bankability Review – How to mitigate investment risk in tracker technology'. Registrations to the event are free here.