The US Nationwide Renewable Vitality Laboratory (NREL) and its companions are investigating the technical potential for floating PV throughout Southeast Asia.
Floating photovoltaics supply a promising renewable vitality answer to handle land use constraints in electrical energy era. The know-how is of specific significance for land-scarce international locations, together with many island nations in Southeast Asia, as they search to transition to zero-emission economies.
NREL is collaborating with the US Company for Worldwide Improvement (USAID) Regional Improvement Mission for Asia to discover the technical potential of floating PV throughout the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN has set a objective of attaining 35% of put in capability from renewable vitality sources by 2025.
“[Floating PV] The arrays are situated in our bodies of water reminiscent of lakes, reservoirs, or water remedy ponds, the place they are often put in alone or along with hydropower dams,” NREL stated.
NREL says floating PV is especially enticing in areas the place hydropower infrastructure is deliberate or already in place and elevated frequency or severity of droughts might elevate reliability issues for hydropower manufacturing. . Southeast Asia is especially uncovered to this lack of hydropower manufacturing as a result of it has a robust community of established amenities.
“Moreover, a lot of the area is roofed by rainforest ecosystems,” stated Evan Rosenlieb, a geospatial knowledge scientist for NREL. “Placing PV on water may very well be a solution to improve renewable vitality era with out deforestation.”
Southeast Asia can be a hotbed for the rising observe of aquaculture, or elevating fish, crustaceans, and aquatic vegetation in a managed physique of water. These websites are focused as a possible match for floating PV.
“This rising mixture of aquaculture and photovoltaics, generally known as AquaPV, could enable international locations to co-locate vitality and meals manufacturing in present pure or synthetic water our bodies whereas lowering total environmental affect of each sectors,” stated Prateek Joshi, NREL vitality engineer.
Joshi and the NREL staff stated aquaculture and photo voltaic might assist enhance meals safety within the area, providing devoted, sustainable vitality manufacturing to essential meals sources.
The info accompanying the report is publicly out there as a useful resource for builders interested by studying extra concerning the technical and financial potential of floating PV within the area.
“This knowledge will result in additional discussions and inform selections on the potential position of [floating PV] within the area. This could not be attainable with out all the prevailing work of the previous [floating PV] research and former RE Information Explorer software improvement,” Sika Gadzanku, the NREL vitality know-how and coverage researcher.
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