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Floating solar could help power nations with limited land (aussie.zone)

submitted 1 day ago by arbilp3@aussie.zone to c/environment@aussie.zone

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

And in hot regional areas of Australia it could be used on dam reservoirs so as not to take up land used for other purposes but also to reduce water evaporation and produce extra energy.

“What we found is that offshore floating solar systems can generate more electricity over their lifetime – about 12% more than land-based systems under the same conditions.

“Because of this higher energy output, they also achieve greater carbon emission reductions. In simple terms, even though both systems use similar technology, placing solar panels on water can make them more effective.”

This is partly due to the cooling effect of the surrounding water, which conducts heat away from the solar panels more efficiently than air. The electrical efficiency of solar cells decreases as ambient temperatures increase, so this effect is particularly helpful in warm climates.

https://connectsci.au/news/news-parent/9388/Floating-solar-could-help-power-nations-with

top 16 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Build the "Ring of Power" around the equator! Get Dyson Sphere Program with it!

[–] arbilp3@aussie.zone 1 points 1 hour ago

Lol you'll have to translate to this grandma what you mean! 😆 👵

[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 11 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (2 children)

Would make a really nice replacement for the floating balls used to reduce evaporation and UV penetration in reservoirs.

Plus they're already on water, so it would take less effort to clean them regularly to keep up efficiency. (Dirty panels output much less energy)

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

pennitration

sigh.

[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 0 points 9 hours ago

Installed a new keyboard yesterday and that's what auto filled... (See my post history if you don't believe me) Fixed

[–] arbilp3@aussie.zone 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Wow, I'd never seen those floating balls till now. I bet they're made of some sort of plastic too, creating more environmental problems.

[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Why Are 96,000,000 Black Balls On This Reservoir [Veritasium]

[–] arbilp3@aussie.zone 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Really interesting. Thanks for that. I just still wonder whether microparticles of the plastic still get into the water.

[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 0 points 10 hours ago

They definitely do; while interesting, unfortunately a good chunk of that video was basically an advertisement full of half truths. It's also over 7 years old.

'These breakdown over time, but it's perfectly fine, you could take a bite out of these chews one on camera' ... Sure buddy.

You could replace a good chunk of those with a floating barge type thing made of solar panels though, keeping the sun off of the water and collecting the energy.

You'll still need something dynamic around the edges, to deal with the rise\fall of the water changing the shoreline, but there's lots of room in the center.

[–] Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world 5 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I feel like Australia is the country with the least need to do this.

[–] arbilp3@aussie.zone 4 points 21 hours ago

You'd be surprised! I was surprised and I live here. You would think being such a large, dry, hot continent (in general) we'd have space enough for enormous solar farms, for example. One of the problems are the distances. If you put solar farms in distant places they are not financially viable (transport, infrastructure, etc, etc.

In some regional areas there's pushback against renewable projects sometimes for genuine reasons and sometimes for political reasons. I live in a regional area and have seen some of the attitudes, e.g. 'they're taking away our farming land', 'we don't like how they spoil the view', 'we don't like the powerlines', 'it is hurting our wildlife' (but there's plenty of farmers who don't blink when destroying bushland to create more cattle pasture).

Finding alternatives like putting the solar panels on open water if available, means that in some instances, community upset and land use can be avoided.

Also, floating panels can be very useful on open water projects like wastewater systems and irrigation dams, e.g.

https://www.energymagazine.com.au/largest-floating-solar-array-in-aus-switched-on/

https://australiancotton.com.au/news/saving-water-with-solar-floating-panel-trial-to-reduce-evaporation

[–] kahoodd@reddthat.com 3 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Might be a problem for underwater ecosystem. some places have some kind of bacteria or something that blocks the light, creatures die and causes more bacteria in a loop

[–] arbilp3@aussie.zone 2 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

I guess each proposal would have to be investigated. I know floating solar has been used in various places successfully.

[–] sinabhfuil@mastodon.ie 3 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

@arbilp3 Why not solar on every roof and extra added geothermal?

[–] NightFantom@slrpnk.net 2 points 23 hours ago

What do you hope to accomplish with this question? I don't think this is relevant unless you have some numbers to compare

[–] arbilp3@aussie.zone 1 points 21 hours ago

The more well-operating renewable projects the better. Different places have different challenges and situations.