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If anyone is interested, I just completed a Master's thesis on a feasibility study for floating solar on a specific reservoir in southern California: https://br

If anyone is interested, I just completed a Master's thesis on a feasibility study for floating solar on a specific reservoir in southern California: https://bren.ucsb.edu/projects/exploring-feasibility-floating-solar-lauro-reservoir https://bren.ucsb.edu/projects/exploring-feasibility-floatin... Happy to answer any questions you might have about the possibilities of the technology!

CSSer 4y ago
This all seems pretty incredible and kind of like a no-brainer. What are some of the challenges in a project like this? Are there any limitations to scale? Lastly, do you know off-hand if these bold claims (see below) are exaggerated or oversimplified in any way? > Covering just 10 percent of the world’s hydropower reservoirs with floatovoltaics could generate as much electricity as all the world’s operating fossil fuel power plants combined > We found that countries in the Americas and Africa could benefit most: even low coverage of reservoirs by floatovoltaics should generate all the solar energy needed to decarbonize their electricity sector. Brazil and Canada could be hotspots, each requiring only about 5% coverage of their plentiful reservoirs to satisfy their massive solar-energy needs. Last year, Brazil implemented regulatory changes to help the industry to develop (see ‘Brazil’s photovoltaic boom’). https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01525-1#ref-CR13 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01525-1#ref-CR13 (linked in the article)
- schimmy_changa 4y ago
  There are not significant limitations to scale other than the usual economic reasons. There are competing uses of many reservoirs, however - likely recreational boaters would strongly oppose taking over large sections of reservoirs, so floating solar is more likely going to be located in practice near to the dams / in existing keep-out zones. Yes, those claims are technically correct, in the same way that the claims we could power all of humanity's needs with a fraction of the sahara desert are also technically correct. In practice, competing needs for the water bodies and especially the cost of transmission lines / the lower cost of nearby desert land for many of the sites means that it's certainly an oversimplification.
  - schimmy_changa 4y ago
    really, the competition against cheap desert land is what makes the difference - that is why it really makes sense in places with limited land (Japan, South Korea, eastern China, coastal California, etc)
- schimmy_changa 4y ago
  And yes! I agree it's a no-brainer. Big barriers: 1) Getting all the stakeholders to agree (US Bureau of Reclamation, the local reservoir joint-powers authority, the Santa Barbara city council, the local utility, etc) 2) Avoiding NIMBYs and those that might be worried about ecosystem effects (e.g. Audubon society). While the evidence suggests it's not an issue for wildlife, those folks tend to be very conservative (even if they are missing the forest for the trees, IMO)
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
nomel 4y ago
How do you service a panel, or whatever quantization, near the center?
- ncmncm 4y ago
  Leave gaps.
- schimmy_changa 4y ago
  you can walk on the floats between the panels, see: https://www.dynamicslr.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/floating-solar-panels.jpg https://www.dynamicslr.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/floati...
ncmncm 4y ago
Only complaint about the abstract is "...without occupying scarce available land". Land for solar in the county is not scarce. Look up "agrivoltaics". There are good reasons to float solar on reservoirs, that just isn't one.
- schimmy_changa 4y ago
  Agrivoltaics are far more expensive, and farmers have to change their behavior significantly. Floating solar doesn't require any of that partnership and ongoing behavioral change, just slightly more expensive up-front costs. Also - in SB county, there is an ordinance banning utility-scale solar within the county (thanks local zoning laws....). We get exempted because the reservoir is federal land.
  - ncmncm 4y ago
    Agrivoltaics are a little more expensive, but produce revenue in fallow fields. Farmers have grown used to changing their behavior, in recent centuries. The successful ones today did. The successful ones tomorrow will have. Laws can be changed. In Colorado, they were already. Others will follow.

CSSer 4y ago

This all seems pretty incredible and kind of like a no-brainer. What are some of the challenges in a project like this? Are there any limitations to scale? Lastly, do you know off-hand if these bold claims (see below) are exaggerated or oversimplified in any way? > Covering just 10 percent of the world’s hydropower reservoirs with floatovoltaics could generate as much electricity as all the world’s operating fossil fuel power plants combined > We found that countries in the Americas and Africa could benefit most: even low coverage of reservoirs by floatovoltaics should generate all the solar energy needed to decarbonize their electricity sector. Brazil and Canada could be hotspots, each requiring only about 5% coverage of their plentiful reservoirs to satisfy their massive solar-energy needs. Last year, Brazil implemented regulatory changes to help the industry to develop (see ‘Brazil’s photovoltaic boom’). https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01525-1#ref-CR13 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01525-1#ref-CR13 (linked in the article)

schimmy_changa 4y ago
There are not significant limitations to scale other than the usual economic reasons. There are competing uses of many reservoirs, however - likely recreational boaters would strongly oppose taking over large sections of reservoirs, so floating solar is more likely going to be located in practice near to the dams / in existing keep-out zones. Yes, those claims are technically correct, in the same way that the claims we could power all of humanity's needs with a fraction of the sahara desert are also technically correct. In practice, competing needs for the water bodies and especially the cost of transmission lines / the lower cost of nearby desert land for many of the sites means that it's certainly an oversimplification.
- schimmy_changa 4y ago
  really, the competition against cheap desert land is what makes the difference - that is why it really makes sense in places with limited land (Japan, South Korea, eastern China, coastal California, etc)
schimmy_changa 4y ago
And yes! I agree it's a no-brainer. Big barriers: 1) Getting all the stakeholders to agree (US Bureau of Reclamation, the local reservoir joint-powers authority, the Santa Barbara city council, the local utility, etc) 2) Avoiding NIMBYs and those that might be worried about ecosystem effects (e.g. Audubon society). While the evidence suggests it's not an issue for wildlife, those folks tend to be very conservative (even if they are missing the forest for the trees, IMO)

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

nomel 4y ago

How do you service a panel, or whatever quantization, near the center?

ncmncm 4y ago
Leave gaps.
schimmy_changa 4y ago
you can walk on the floats between the panels, see: https://www.dynamicslr.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/floating-solar-panels.jpg https://www.dynamicslr.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/floati...

ncmncm 4y ago

Only complaint about the abstract is "...without occupying scarce available land". Land for solar in the county is not scarce. Look up "agrivoltaics". There are good reasons to float solar on reservoirs, that just isn't one.

schimmy_changa 4y ago
Agrivoltaics are far more expensive, and farmers have to change their behavior significantly. Floating solar doesn't require any of that partnership and ongoing behavioral change, just slightly more expensive up-front costs. Also - in SB county, there is an ordinance banning utility-scale solar within the county (thanks local zoning laws....). We get exempted because the reservoir is federal land.
- ncmncm 4y ago
  Agrivoltaics are a little more expensive, but produce revenue in fallow fields. Farmers have grown used to changing their behavior, in recent centuries. The successful ones today did. The successful ones tomorrow will have. Laws can be changed. In Colorado, they were already. Others will follow.