Floating Solar Photovoltaic Systems: An Overview and its Feasibility Study at the Malampuzha Reservoir, Kerala

摘要

Renewable energy sources such as wind, geothermal, and hydro have unique location-based criteria, whereas solar energy plants can be installed almost everywhere. The population is growing and land supply is dwindling, hence land prices are rising. As a result, procuring land for a terrestrial solar power plant is very expensive and challenging, especially in densely populated areas. Floating solar power plant (FSPV) is an innovative approach using photovoltaic (PV) energy generation. PV modules float on top of water bodies to conserve land and also increase the efficiency of PV modules due to evaporative cooling. It can also reduce the evaporation loss from the installed waterbody. This paper focuses on the Floating Solar technology and the feasibility of installing a 2 MW FSPV plant at Malampuzha reservoir, Kerala. A 2 MW FSPV plant at Malampuzha reservoir can generate 29,93,000 kWh energy per year and reduce up to 2364.47 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.