The global floating PV (FPV) installed capacity expanded to 7.7 GW at the end of 2023, with almost 90% located in Asia, out of which China alone commands a leading position with a 50% share, and interest in such projects continues to increase.
However, as the International Energy Agency’s Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA-PVPS) points out, there are still several uncertainties about the environmental impacts and system reliability of FPV technology. This is due to the absence of regulatory frameworks and limited long-term data.
While there are guidelines published by the World Bank, DNV, SolarPower Europe (SPE) and national level standards in South Korea, China and Singapore, the IEA PVPS says there is a lack of quantitative data for yield modeling and reliability in this space. This is what it attempts to address in its new Task 13 report titled Floating Photovoltaic Power Plants: A Review of Energy Yield, Reliability, and Maintenance while providing practical guidance for stakeholders.
“Rapid innovation in the field often prioritizes confidentiality, limiting data sharing crucial for industry growth. This report aims to support FPV development by building a knowledge base on energy yield, reliability, and O&M — areas where FPV diverges from GPV,” reads the report.
China, as the world’s largest FPV market, is followed by Taiwan, India, Israel, Japan and South Korea. However, the report writers believe that FPV holds potential to support the EU’s climate neutrality goals, with the Netherlands and France currently hosting the 7t and 10th largest FPV capacities.
Currently, most of the FPV systems are installed on sheltered inland waters, including quarry lakes, irrigation ponds and reservoirs. Existing meteorological databases often exclude sea and coastal areas that limit FPV’s energy yield assessment (EYA). The current EYA models do not offer reliable data to study critical parameters like module temperature, wave-induced losses, soiling losses and performance loss rates.
This is key to determining the levelized cost of electricity and project profitability, according to the report writers. Hence, they recommend improving EYA accuracy for FPV by closing gaps in meteorological data to understand how variables like irradiance, wind, and temperature affect the prediction for such systems.
