The newest, hottest power couple doesn’t live in Hollywood. It’s actually the marriage of solar panels and water reservoirs: Known as floating photovoltaics, or floatovoltaics, the devices bob on simple floats, generating power while providing shade that reduces evaporation.
One primary advantage of the technology is that you don’t have to clear trees to make way for solar farms. As an added bonus, the water cools the panels, increasing their efficiency. Research has shown that if societies deployed floatovoltaics in just a fraction of the lakes and reservoirs of the world, they could generate nearly a third of the amount of electricity that the United States uses in a year.
As floatovoltaic systems rapidly proliferate — the market is expected to grow an average of 23 percent each year between 2025 and 2030 — scientists are investigating how the technology might influence ecosystems. The shading, for instance, might stunt the growth of algae that some species eat — but at the same time, it might also prevent the growth of toxic algae. The floats might prevent waterbirds from landing — but also might provide habitat for them to hide from predators. By better understanding these dynamics, scientists say that if companies are willing, they can work with manufacturers to customize floatovoltaics to produce as much electricity as possible while also benefiting wildlife as much as possible.
“Renewable energy, low-carbon electricity, is a really good thing for us, but we shouldn’t be expanding it at the cost of biodiversity loss,” said Elliott Steele, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Davis, and co-author of a recent paper about floatovoltaics and conservation in the journal Nature Water. “This is a great opportunity for us to increase our research and develop smart design ideas and better siting practices in order to have this happy marriage between a healthy, biodiverse ecosystem and renewable energy expansion.”
I’m sorry. Why are we talking about biodiversity loss with solar? Who is cutting down forests or clearing land to put in panels?
I only see them on rooftops, car parks, farmland (where they have the benefit of adding shade.) etc.
I’m all for more deployment, but no need to shit on non-“floatovoltaics” - rad name btw
Reservoirs have been doing this forever with plastic balls to prevent evaporation.
And to prevent birds landing.
Put them on canals first like they are trying out in California
An idea I had was to put them over the…not sure what the technical term is…the Panama canal’s locks have these storage ponds that they flow some of the water into so the locks lose less water to the ocean per cycle. Panama is tropical, the sun is intense there, how many gallons of water are lost from those ponds to evaporation in a year? That’d be a great place to install solar power.
Makes a lot of sense, sadly the Panama canal is notorious for the tug of war between so many parties, so I really doubt they would get consensus to do it
India has been doing this too. And China.
Meanwhile, cities have little solar panels to show for. Not in rooftops, not in parkinglots… No implementation or improvement of photovoltaic windows either.
No no, let’s reduce light in lakes and especially the oceans, which produce 72% of the oxygen in the atmosphere and do the most carbon capture in the world. I swear this is just who has the stupidest idea now.
Solar farms on land are stupid. Floating Solar farms on lakes and ocean zones are even more stupid. Asphalt dead zones such as cities, and natural deserts it’s where this technology belongs.
Research has shown that if societies deployed floatovoltaics in just a fraction of the lakes and reservoirs of the world, they could generate nearly a third of the amount of electricity that the United States uses in a year.
That’s a bit of a dumb statement, isn’t it? Regardless if the area is 0.1% or 90%, the output is always the same.
