Floating solar PV—hydroelectric power plants in Brazil: Energy storage solution with great application potential

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) solar farms and hydropower stations can create a plant that do more than the two resources acting independently as long as, with the addition of a solar project, hydroelectric plants increase its annual availability of power and economic efficiency, taking advantage of the storage capacity of energy that a hydroelectric reservoir can provide. The objective of this paper is to investigate the potential of Brazilian hydropower plants regarding these issues using the large amount of available data recorded. There exists a potential increase in the energy production of 53.3 TWh per year based on the proposed optimized solution for the Brazilian hydropower stations with significant water storage capacities assessed in this paper. This energy is equivalent to an additional capacity factor of approximately 20% to the original 31.5 GW installed hydro capacity or almost 10% of the Brazilian electricity demand in 2018. This result would be at the expenses of a huge deployment of 34 GW of solar PV floating power plants installed close to the reservoir dams that must yet prove to be economically feasible. However, on the other hand, this proposal can create a virtuous cycle for the solar industry in Brazil and speed up the viability of solar cell costs, since setting up and connecting the PV plants are greatly simplified when done in existing hydropower stations facilities.

In-Situ Water Quality Observations under a Large-Scale Floating Solar Farm Using Sensors and Underwater Drones

“…The results showed no major differences in the measured key water quality parameters below the solar panels, such as temperature or dissolved oxygen. This was also previously observed for (small) floating homes at various measurement locations [6][7][8][9]. The temperature at the upper layers was lower under the solar panels, and there were less temperature fluctuations detected.…”

“…Over the last few years, floating solar parks have gained significance [4][5][6], with many solar power plants being considered and constructed worldwide at very large scales [7][8]. The total capacity of floating solar panels in the world in 2019 exceeded 319,000 kW [9], and the estimated potential of floating solar parks exceeds 4000 GWp (gigawatt-peak) with 10% of the total water surface area used [4].…”

Pumped hydro storage plants: a review

“…In the case of hybrid PHSPs, a promising alternative to reduce the environmental impact, reducing the ratio between flooded/affected area and produced energy, is the installation of floating solar panels in the PHSP reservoirs [97][98][99]. According to Cazzaniga et al [97], the association of floating photovoltaic plants with hydroelectric reservoirs facilitates and reduces the costs of connecting the system to the grid, increases the complementarity between solar and hydraulic sources in seasonal terms, does not require the occupation of new areas for the implementation of the PV system, reduces the evaporative losses from reservoirs, among other advantages.…”

Reservoir Effect on the Hybrid Solar-Hydroelectric (SHE) System

“…Bakar and Nandong [36] studied the technical and economic analysis of floating solar energy systems on Bakun lake in Malaysia. Maues [37] explained that a hybrid energy structure consisting of solar and hydroelectric systems contributes to every other in terms of economic efficiency and generation. Elshafei et al [38] emphasized the difficulties in accessing water and energy.…”