Spain has started operating the country's first floating photovoltaic plant. The plant, located in the Sierra Brava reservoir, in the Extremadura region, has 1,1 MW and received investments of €1,7 million. The installation was announced this week by manufacturer JA Solar, which supplied the solar panels for the project.
In total, 3 monofacial and bifacial photovoltaic modules were installed, arranged at various orientation and inclination angles using different floating systems.
The project aims to study a set of technical solutions for installing solar panels in lakes or reservoirs, in addition to analyzing their performance in terms of production and installation and maintenance costs of the different solutions.
In addition, the living conditions of birds and fish will be monitored to understand the impact of photovoltaic plant operations on surrounding creatures and provide a reference for the operation and maintenance of solar plants.
According to JA Solar, compared to a ground-based photovoltaic plant, a floating photovoltaic system can reduce the required land resources, in addition to water helping to contain the increase in the surface temperature of the modules and increase power generation.
“With the continuous development of the clean energy industry, solar power generation is being applied more widely. A floating PV plant reduces the impact of land resource constraints and is complementary to applications such as ground-mounted PV plant and rooftop solar system,” commented Jin Baofang, CEO of JA Solar.
First floating power plant in Malaysia
Recently, a 10 MW floating PV system was deployed in the state of Selangor and connected to the Malaysian grid. The project used double-glass modules from JA Solar.
Baofang highlighted the manufacturer's participation in offering solutions for this type of technology. “JA Solar is committed to the development and application of high-efficiency photovoltaic products and is willing to strengthen cooperation with global partners to explore various ways to promote photovoltaic development and energy utilization, bringing renewable sources to more people.”
