Comparative Analysis of Floating Solar Photovoltaic and Land Based Photovoltaic Plant

Abstract

Floating photovoltaics (FPV), which involves the placement of PV modules on the water’s surface, solves one of the major difficulties that has arisen as a result of the increased deployment of PV that is land occupancy. Water bodies such as lakes, ponds, and reservoirs can be used to install PV technology without requiring any land, which is a hot topic in India, which is the world’s second most populated country. The goal of this study is to assess the prospective deployment of Floating PV on a lake in order to determine its extent and compare it to a land-based PV system with similar specifications. PVsyst software is utilized to do a techno-economic analysis of a site in India’s Jammu and Kashmir (Wullar lake). Analyzing the effect of enhanced thermal behavior due to the cooling action of water is part of the technical analysis. To compare the two models, FSPV and LBPV (land-based PV), economic criteria such as Levelized Cost of Energy (L.C.O.E), Net Present Value (NPV), and Payback period are employed.