Floating solar photovoltaic (PV) solutions, which make use of a flotation system on which the PV modules are attached, address the shortage of reasonably priced land, as well as the need to reduce the rate of evaporation from precious freshwater reservoirs such as dams or lakes, Black & Veatch sub-Saharan Africa business development director Webb Meko says.
Floating solar PV, he pointed out in an interview with Engineering News, should be viewed as an evolutionary application, particularly in instances where there was a shortage of suitable land to install a land-based PV system.
A secondary benefit, he highlighted, was the reduction in the evaporation rate of freshwater resources. “For example, a 1 MW floatovoltaic system, covering a 3- to 4-acre area of water, could reduce losses caused by evaporation by up to 70%, saving between 15 Mℓ and 18 Mℓ of water a year.
“[This] will be a good solution to consider, since South Africa is a semiarid country and has had its own challenges with droughts in recent years,” Meko said.