Flexible floating thin film photovoltaic (PV) array concept for marine and lacustrine environments

Abstract

The focus of the research is on the development of the concept of floating flexible thin film arrays for renewable electricity generation, in marine and lacustrine application areas. This research was motivated by reliability issues from wave energy converters which are prone to large loads due to the environment which they are exposed in; a flexible system would not need to withstand these loads but simply yield to them. The solid state power take off is an advantage of photovoltaic (PV) technology which removes failure risks associated with mechanical machinery, and also potential environmental hazards such as hydraulic oil spillage. The novelty of this technology requires some development before it could even be considered feasible for large scale installation. Techno-economics are a big issue in electricity developments and need to be scoped in order to ensure that they would be cost-competitive in the market and with other technologies. Other more technical issues relate to the change in expected electrical yield due to the modulation of the PV array according to the waves and the electrical performance of the PVs when in wet conditions. Results from numerical modelling of the modulating arrays show that there is not expected variation in electrical yield at central latitudes (slightly positive), although at higher latitudes there could be considerable depreciation. With regards to the electrical performance a notable improvement was measured due to the cooling effect, slight decrease in performance was also estimated due to water absorption (of ~ 1.4%) within the panels. Overall results from both economic and technical analysis show the feasibility of the concept and that it is a possibility for future commercialisation.