Floating solar is a relatively new industry that has been around since 2006 and has experienced accelerated growth since 2015. The many benefits of putting photovoltaic panels on man-made bodies of water are creating increasing demand for floating solar installations.
Floating solar provides impressive financial and environmental benefits. To name a few:
- Land preservation – valuable land space used for solar farms freed up
- Water volume retention – evaporation of water for drinking or irrigation mitigated by intercepting sunlight before it hits the reservoir’s surface
- Water quality preservation– growth of algae inhibited by shading water and growth of bacteria, such as giardia and cryptosporidium, restricted due to water temperature reduction
- Solar cell efficiency augmentation – panels made up to 11% more efficient than land-based PV systems due to cooling effect of water!
- Solar cell atrophy minimization – risk of solar cell atrophy minimized due to cooler air at surface
- Land-based solar farm cost mitigation – cost associated with land-based solar farms such as land purchase, clearing, maintenance, and insurance against flooding mitigated
Hazelett Marine uses elastics to moor floating solar systems. Due to the low maintenance and stability of our product, Hazelett elastics provide an excellent solution to moor floating solar arrays. They can be distributed to reduce peak forces by 30 – 80% by absorbing energy, thus decreasing forces on the anchors. As a general rule of thumb, Hazelett recommends using 1 eastic per 200 – 1,500 sq ft (19 – 139 sq m), 200 sq ft for extreme conditions and 1,500 sq ft for the calmest of conditions.