An innovative approach to assessing and optimizing floating solar panels

Abstract

Floating photovoltaic energy is an emerging solution to the need for decarbonization of the current society. It is currently in the early stages of implementation, so there are not many previous experiences to standardize decision-making and the most relevant operating parameters such as, the tilt angle of a fast as in conventional photovoltaics. In addition, the lack of specific design tools and production calculations for floating solar is a barrier to the correct understanding of the real advantages of floating solar versus conventional solar. From the point of view of the investment, the stakeholders do not have a complete analysis of the profitability of their investment. From a technical, environmental and legislative point of view, there is not enough information available to establish standards and criteria for the design and selection of the most suitable water bodies at local, regional or state level. This research aims to fill this gap by proposing a specific framework based on geographic information systems (GIS), multi-criteria analysis (MCDA) and intelligent optimization (Genetic Algorithm). The objective is to select within a set of water bodies those where the investment is most beneficial from a holistic perspective considering technical, economic, social, environmental, and legislative criteria. Once the optimal location is obtained, the framework obtains the tilt angles that minimize the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) by means of intelligent optimization techniques that evaluate the characteristics of each water body, such as location or available surface. The tilt angle obtained in this research achieves LCOE improvements of between 2.1% and 8.4% with respect to the tilt angle obtained by conventional methods applied to ground photovoltaics. Spain has been chosen as a case study as it is a region with a high solar potential and an even distribution of water bodies in which there is still no legislative framework in force.