Local temperature and humidity aware prediction of degradation, lifetime, and long-term yield of mono- and bifacial floating photovoltaic systems

Abstract

Floating photovoltaics (FPV) can lower the stress on valuable land for many localities. Additionally, it shows lowered soiling, suppressed water evaporation, and better performance under the cooler conditions. While previous studies have examined short-term performance, in this paper, we analyze the reliability and degradation-aware long-term performance of FPVs. We focus on corrosion as the primary degradation mode since humidity is higher over waterbodies. We present an FPV analysis framework of physics-based temperature and humidity dependent degradation coupled with a PV-yield simulator. Our study predicts the degradation, lifetime, and 25-year yield of both mono- and bifacial FPV systems along with their sensitivity to temperature and relative humidity ($RH$) over waterbodies. We assess these results over diverse weather and geographic conditions of Singapore, Las Coloradas (Mexico), Telangana (India), and Queensland (Australia). Even with 10% higher $RH$ over water bodies, mono/bifacial FPVs will have better lifetime and long-term yield compared to land-based photovoltaic (LPV) systems with just $\ge 1.6°C$ lowered temperatures. Especially in the hot, humid, and bright conditions of Las Coloradas and Queensland, if conditions are 5 °C cooler over water, the FPVs show $>4\text{\%}$ gain in 25-year output compared to LPVs. Overall, this study reinforces the necessity of long-term performance evaluation of FPVs and provides an analysis framework laying the groundwork for future research and large-scale deployment in diverse climatic regions.