Floating solar

The growing popularity of floating solar photovoltaic (FPV) installations raises specific issues regarding the development and the operation of these floating assets. DNV has vast knowledge of this technology from across the globe and combines its existing strengths in the solar energy and maritime industries. Our goal is to help you meet the challenges of this new and interesting solar discipline.

Our service offering includes:

• Guidelines and tools for developers
• Technology qualification, review and verification for floating structures
• Bankability assessment
• Feasibility assessment
• Construction support
• Technical due diligence
• Technical advisory services
• Risk assessment
• Owner’s engineering and independent engineering
• Tendering support
• Energy production assessment
• Environmental and social impact assessment
• Material integrity and durability assessment
• Modelling and simulation
• Market study
• Monitoring and asset management
• Failure analysis

Our experience with this relatively new technology spans multiple continents. Here at DNV, we are keen to help you harness the energy generation potential that your specific geographic locations can offer floating solar technology. We have supported customers on more than 2 GW of floating solar projects at different stages of the project lifecycle including feasibility, construction and operation. We have been the technical advisor for the largest floating PV project in the world, located in the Asia-Pacific region. DNV has also spearheaded a Joint Industry Project involving 24 floating solar industry leaders to develop the world’s first Recommended Practice on the design, development and operation of FPV systems.

Floating solar has huge potential in areas where difficult terrain, land scarcity and competition for land may pose challenges to the development of ground-mounted solar systems. While available land has been used heavily in the past decades for the installation of solar plants, the available water surface still remains largely untouched. The combination of economic activities in water bodies, such as lakes, reservoirs, hydro dams and canals, with power generation that requires no additional surface space is making the business case for floating solar extremely attractive.

Compared to traditional ground-mounted and rooftop solar, the development of floating solar plants presents different challenges due to hydrodynamic loads on the structure, risk of corrosion and additional components to be designed, installed and maintained, such as the floats, the anchors and the mooring lines. These challenges are highly dependent on the location, size, type of water body, type of structure and environmental conditions. Performing a site-specific design and assessment will help to reduce risks for new and operating floating solar projects.

We are well-positioned to advise on any issue or challenge related to the design, development and operation of floating solar plants. Thanks to our long-lasting history, both in renewables and in offshore structures, we have a holistic skillset and comprehensive experience to address the challenges of this exciting and promising solar application.