Floating and desert PV technologies: Prospects and applications

Solar installation has been growing rapidly over the past years, with installed capacity to surpass 450 GW this year. The solar sector must look for more applications in response to the gradual decrease in land resources. As evidenced at this year’ SNEC, many module manufacturers have developed modules for different scenarios, among which floating and desert PV received the most attention, unlocking new opportunities for the market.

These applications not only help solve the issue of limited land resources but integrate with natural environment to achieve mutual benefits of economics and ecology. The following paragraph will explore the technology features and potential of the two application scenarios and analyze advantages and challenges with case studies.
 

Floating PV: Applications and features

Floating solar generation is an emerging technology with potential, which generates power through installing modules on the water surface. It is environmentally friendly and has technical, economic and social benefits. The technology not only uses environmentally friendly materials to protect the ecological environment, but also reduce construction costs through simple and rapid construction method, while avoiding land property right issues encountered by ground-mounted PV.

At present, floating PV is divided into offshore projects and those on water body. Floating farms on water body include scenarios such as lakes, reservoirs, abandoned mining sites, artificial lakes, and ponds.

In terms of module selection, the use of glass-glass modules can better solve the problem of moisture permeability, which can generation 5-10% more power than the ground-mounted ones. For application in waters with a depth of less than 3 meters, projects usually use pile-based fixed design, while floating systems (floating tube and floating box types) are usually used in waters deeper than 3 meters.

As construction on the water is easier and faster compared to those on the land, quiet a few developers are turning to develop floating solar, which creates another market for module makers. As seen at this year’ SNEC, many manufacturers have been developing modules for floating PV, reflecting the potential of the sector.

With rising awareness of floating PV, demand from floating projects getting off the ground is estimated to reach 2-3 GW in China this year, concentrating in offshore area in Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian. At present, some projects are expected to get off the ground between the second half of this year and the first half of 2025, while inventory draw is expected to begin in the fourth quarter. Sungrow, which dominates the floating PV sector, is the only company that can build solar projects on waters with more than one hundred of meter depth. Apart from utility-scale floating PV, there are many untapped areas for projects on the water body in China, which can be divided into ground-mounted and distributed generation projects. Most of the ground-mounted projects on water body are located in mining areas, with a scale of 50 MW to 200 MW. Distributed generation projects are mostly built in ponds, with capacity of a single project ranging from 5 MW to 30 MW. Overall, projects on the water have vast potential. InfoLink projects that the cumulative floating PV capacity in China is likely to exceed 5 GW and 7-8 GW worldwide.

Although floating PV can contribute to the continuous growth of solar installation, the development process still faces many barriers. In addition to difficulty in construction and maintenance, the market has concerns over water quality and impact on the ecology. Manufacturers have been offering solutions in recent years. For instance, Sungrow uses food-grade materials in its 60-MW reservoir project in Singapore to protect the water quality, and ensure the safety of drinking water with strict inspection and quality control to eliminate the public concerns over water quality. With more and more businesses introducing innovative technologies and implementing strict environment protection measures, as well as the rise of successful cases, the society’s acceptance of floating solar is gradually increasing, which is likely to reach a consensus between environment and person of interest and achieve sustainability.
 

Desert PV: Applications and features

Desert PV generation leverages strong sunlight and vast large-scale sites to achieve efficient and economical returns. Among desert projects in the world, China is the most representative, where the great base projects in the northwestern regions of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are the most representative. As the first batch of ten-million-kilowatt level wind and solar projects, the Phase 1 of 1 GW has been connected to the grid and commissioned, while the second and third phases are under construction.

As ground-mounted projects are impacted by land compliance reviews and ecological conservation policies recently, while desert land is relatively easier to obtain, developers are gradually seeking sites in the desert areas. Additionally, building PV projects in desert areas can enhance desertification control effectiveness, making PV desertification control projects increasingly important.

Due to high temperatures, large temperature differences between day and night, high ultraviolet rays and sandstorms, desert areas have module requirements on resistance to high temperature, wind, and sand. Some module manufacturers have stepped up their efforts to make breakthroughs in technology, such as increasing the thickness of module glass to resist sand and wind, introducing dust and sand prevention technologies, and increasing the ability of modules to withstand high temperatures.

Regarding the application scenarios in deserts, certain regions have specific regulations. For instance, Inner Mongolia has relevant requirements for desertification control, stipulating that projects must establish local battery and module production capacity. Additionally, there are requirements for stable power generation and peak regulation, coupled with self-consumption energy storage. Therefore, manufacturers need to take these into consideration when constructing projects in these areas. Furthermore, the current desertification control projects in the Northwest are still limited by the issue of power transmission, which restricts the development since electricity cannot be transmitted in large quantities to other provinces. This situation has led some manufacturers to be less interested in desert solar projects compared to other application scenarios. As a result, demand for desertification control projects this year is expected to be relatively limited.

Floating and desert PV technologies both represent unique directions for the development of renewable energy. To maximize the economic benefits of the two, some floating projects incorporate multifunctional development through fish farming and leisure tourism to create a "fishery-solar complementary" model. The desert PV, on the other hand, saw some projects integrate solar power, agricultural planting, and ecological restoration to develop multifunctional desert parks. Although both technologies are still niche markets globally, they hold significant development potential for the future with continuous technological advancements and ongoing policy support, potentially creating a win-win scenario for economic and environmental benefits.