Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1730–1741

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Floating photovoltaic plants: Performance analysis and design solutions MARK

a a a a b,⁎ b
R. Cazzaniga , M. Cicu , M. Rosa-Clot , P. Rosa-Clot , G.M. Tina , C. Ventura
a
Koiné Multimedia srl, Italy
b
DIEEI – University of Catania, Italy

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: The analysis of the performance of photovoltaic (PV) installations mounted on a floating platform is performed.
Floating plant Different design solutions for increasing the efficiency and cost effectiveness of floating photovoltaic (FPV)
Photovoltaic plants are presented and discussed. Specifically, FPV solutions that exploit the advantages of additional features
Spectral efficiency such as tracking, cooling and concentration, are presented. The results of experimental tests are reported and
Water
they show a considerable increase in efficiency due to the positive tracking and cooling effects. Gains due to the
Tracking system
use of flat reflectors are also analyzed. Finally, the possibility of exploiting the floating structure on water in
Concentration
Storage order to develop an integrated air storage system is presented.

1. Introduction Si-wafer based PV technology is the most used in the world. It

accounted for about 93% of the total production in 2015 and it will
The installed Photovoltaic (PV) capacity has increased rapidly in the continue to be the prevalent technology in the near future. In 2016
last few years, and in 2015 the PV market experienced a further the share of multi-crystalline technology decreased but it is still 69%
worldwide expansion with an installed capacity of over 230 GW while of total production [6]. In this context, it is important to search for
the major development moved from Europe to Asia (China, Japan, design solutions of PV plants that can keep the operating tempera-
India) and USA [1]. In particular, the strong exponential increase is ture of crystalline silicon PV module low and constant, such as
driven by a reduction of PV system costs which for a utility scale system floating and submerged PV systems.
was about 1.8 $/Wp and it is forecast to range from 1.5 to 1.7 $/Wp for 3. The cost of the land tracking system has been strongly reduced in the
2016 [2,3]. last few years, mainly for one axis tracking; this solution is suggested
There are several factors that can limit the further development of only when large land surfaces are available [3]. In this case an
such technology: increase in costs of 7–8% is balanced by a gain in energy harvesting
of 15–20% and by an increase in the land occupancy of 50–60%.
1. Invasiveness and environmental impact: large-scale deployment of 4. Intermittency and availability for a limited time, ranging between
PV energy has a potentially significant land use. According to real 1000 and 2000 h per year. Actually, such systems have an impact on
data reported in [4] for USA, the capacity-weighted average land use the management of national power grids, especially in regions
for utility scale PV plants ranges between (in ha/MWac): 2.39 (fixed) weakly connected with the main national grid such as island power
÷ 3.81 (2-axis) for medium size PV ( > 1 MW, < 20 MW) and 2.35 systems [7].
(fixed) ÷ 3.64 (1-axis) for large PV ( > 20 MW).
2. Loss of efficiency at high operating PV cell temperature depends on The main static and dynamic parameters to be evaluated to under-
the technology. Each PV technology is characterized by a specific stand the impact of “Renewable Non Programmable PV power sys-
maximum power thermal coefficient expressed in %/°C that gives tems“ are related to the local load and to the contribution of
the variation of the efficiency for the variation of one degree Celsius programmable generators, e.g. Thermoelectric or CCGT (combined
in the PV cell temperature. This thermal parameter for the com- cycle gas turbine) [7] as well as to storage systems [8].
mercial PV technologies is always negative and reaches the max- The aforementioned problems can be partially or totally solved by
imum value of 0.4–0.45%/°C for the Silicon crystalline PV technol- an emergent solar technology known as floating PV, which tries to
ogy, whereas for a-Si it is about 0.2%/°C [5]. However, nowadays break the paradigm that mounting solar panels on water surfaces is an

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: raniero@kmm.it (R. Cazzaniga), monica@kmm.it (M. Cicu), rosaclot@scintec.it (M. Rosa-Clot), prclot@scintec.it (P. Rosa-Clot),
giuseppe.tina@dieei.unict.it (G.M. Tina), cristina.ventura@dieei.unict.it (C. Ventura).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.269
Received 18 September 2016; Received in revised form 17 April 2017; Accepted 29 May 2017
Available online 07 June 2017
1364-0321/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
R. Cazzaniga et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1730–1741

expensive and complicated process (as reported by IEA annual report energy can provide a considerable contribution to satisfy the local
in 2014). This technology is now being deployed in projects across the electricity demand.
world [1]. FPV systems are generally comprised of a racking assembly In this scenario, the use of PV systems in a water context can create
mounted on top of floating structures (rafts or pontoons) which are a positive synergy increasing the cost effectiveness of such systems (e.g.
installed in enclosed water bodies such as reservoirs, ponds and small reduction of thermal drift), satisfying the local demand for energy
lakes. Due the novelty of these PV solutions, most systems are (distributed generation) and creating positive effects on water (e.g.
proprietary and of small-medium size. However, many different models limiting evaporation and algae bloom problem). Of course, PV systems
and systems of varying scales (up to megawatt scale) have been created do not use the water as energy vector (aside from photovoltaic/thermal,
with even bigger plans for the future. In Ref. [9] a review of the main PV/T systems [11]), but they can exploit the water effectively as
floating plants in the period 2007–2013 is reported as well as a general operating ambient. In this context, they can be classified according to
analysis of the main technologies: submerged systems, thin film different criteria, such as:
floating systems and floating systems either fixed or with tracking.
Ref. [10] further develops this analysis extending it to 2016. In the past • position in relation to the water surface: i.e. over (floating system) or
2 years about 100 MW were installed around the world. The authors under (submerged);
forecast a very large expansion of the sector and announce that India's • type of water: fresh (lake, river) or salt (sea water);
ambitious target of 100 GW within 2022 will get a wide contribution • type of PV module: rigid or flexible.
from floating plants.
Notwithstanding the efforts made for building PV plants on water Submerged PV plants are suggested as a solution of minimal
(more than 20 plants ranging from 10 kWp up to several MWp are at environmental impact, as they avoid or reduce the cleaning problem
present grid-connected at a worldwide level), very little information is and increase efficiency owing to the elimination of the thermal drift
given about the real advantages and tests of the technology. effect. The literature provides only one analysis of the efficiency of
The goal of this paper is to expand and deepen this analysis by submerged modules, of which two cases can be listed: PV module in
showing the advantages, potentialities and limits of this technology. deep water [12] and PV module in shallow water [13]. In 2008 two of
Physical aspects are analyzed in detail whereas engineering aspects as the authors filed an Italian patent about the use of submerged PV
well as economics are postponed to later investigations. Here we simply plants or floating plants with veil water [14] subsequently extended to
mention that the higher cost of the raft structure compared to the Europe [15] and USA. The optical, thermal and electrical effects of
standard land panel support is partially compensated by the lower water on submerged PV modules are presented in [16,17], where the
installation and maintenance costs. concept of a Submerged PV solar module (SP2) is discussed and
For the installation, the costs of buying and preparing an equivalent checked experimentally. The possibility to combine the use of both
area of land nearby (civil works and foundations) are avoided. For shallow and deep design options for SP2 systems has been studied (see
operation and maintenance costs, weeding is avoided and cleaning is Fig. 1 which shows a graphic view of a SP2 equipped with a sinking
drastically reduced due to availability of water. system, a safety operation adopted during days of strong wind and high
Of course the problem of corrosion should be considered but the waves).
impact depends on where the floating system is installed. If the floating Pure water is a strong light absorber; the absorption mainly
PV systems is sited on freshwater bodies such as lakes and reservoirs depends on the wavelength of incident solar radiation. It behaves like
the problem is limited, if it is sited on salt water ad hoc solutions have high-pass filter, specifically the water blocks the photon with long
to be adopted. wavelength (red-infrared region), whereas the light transmission in
Furthermore, gains in energy harvesting from cooling and tracking pure water reaches its maximum in the wavelength interval between
mechanism can bring the kWh cost below the price of the kWh 350 nm and 550 nm (in the visible spectrum), where the main
produced with land-based plants.
The paper is organized in sections where the followings topics are
discussed:

• A qualitative comparison between submerged and floating PV

systems.
• A general review of the raft system and the platform structure in
terms of materials and geometry.
• The cooling techniques based on water use are presented and the
solution adopted for floating systems is discussed.
• Low radiation concentration based on reflectors is presented. The
main differences between tracking solutions for on-shore and
floating platforms are outlined and original solutions are presented.
• Storage system integrated in a modular raft based on compressed air
storage system (CAES) technology is reported. This possibility is
described in its physical aspects.
• In the last section, measurement campaigns data on two experi-
mental platforms built and tested in Pisa (Colignola, Pisa, Italy) and
Suvereto (Livorno, Italy) are presented. Field tests cover five years,
during which energy harvesting under different conditions (tracking,
cooling and reflectors) has been measured.

2. From submerged to floating PV systems

There are many possibilities to exploit water as an energy vector,

both in freshwater (hydroelectric) and seawater (waves and tides, now
under rapid techno-economic development). All these sources of Fig. 1. Submerged SP2 plant with sinking system.

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• the simplicity of the tracking mechanism. A large floating platform

can rotate without effort around a vertical axis, strongly simplifying
the mechanics of tracking and thus reducing the costs dramatically;
• the possibility to use the float cavity as a volume where compressed
air can be stored in an almost isothermal way, thus allowing the
storage of energy produced by the PV modules [19].

About the type of water, the use of fresh water (lakes, artificial and
natural basins, rivers), has many advantages compared to seawater,
such as:

1. limited problems of corrosion;

2. reduced impact of waves and wind;
3. limited algae proliferation.

On the other hand, the availability of seaside place is much greater,

but of course the cost of supporting rafts and of mooring can be higher
[20].
Concerning the type of PV module, almost all existing FPV systems
Fig. 2. Variation of solar radiation spectrum with water depth. use rigid flat modules [9], but a different solution has been proposed
that consists in the possibility of using flexible modules which float on
photovoltaic technologies works. the water surface following the wave movement [21].
In Fig. 2 the variation of the solar spectrum at different water
depths is reported. The red dashed line shows the spectral response of a
crystalline Silicon PV cell. 3. Supporting floating structures
The level of production of a PV module depends on both the
operating temperature and the irradiance on the cell. The submersion Supporting structures for a FPV system with rigid PV modules
impacts on both by decreasing and stabilizing the PV module tem- differ from the conventional ones (on shore systems) mainly because
perature and by reducing the irradiance, so the energy yield of a they lack a solid anchoring (problem of wind folding) and have an
submerged PV module can be greater or smaller depending on water uneven surface (due to waves). Rigid PV modules when exposed to
depths, temperature of the water and PV technology. wind and water loads can suffer from cell crack formation, due to their
If the water layer is thin (1–2 cm) and the water temperature is limited flexibility and mechanical properties [22].
about 15 °C, the gain due to the lower temperature largely overcomes In addition to these features, the basic idea, underlying all the
the small loss due to the radiation absorption. efforts to build FPV plants, is to install the PV modules on a raft with
The main discussion is about the possibility to use basins in order to adequate buoyancy and to launch them in water in order to assemble
install submerged modules or floating modules with water veil with the the full platform.
following advantages, which solve or at least reduce two of the limits Without entering into engineering details, some proposed solutions
quoted above: are described and illustrated in these sketches and photos. These
solutions have been implemented in several plants.
1. use of available and unexploited areas. Where human activity exists, From the very beginning our solutions have been platforms built
we find water basins which can be used as support for the floating using modular rafts in galvanized iron supported by polyethylene pipes.
platforms; This solution has been used in the Suvereto plant (200 kWp) and,
2. elimination of the thermal drift thanks to the possibility to cool the with some modifications, in the Colignola (Pisa) plant (30 kWp).
modules either by immersion or by generating a water veil [18]. In Fig. 4 there is an aerial photo of 200 kWp Suvereto FPV plant
(with tracking). The platform was grid-connected since the 2011 and
The PV floating solution (Fig. 3), which will be the topic of the the tracking system was installed in 2014.
following section, presents two more advantages over the submerged A similar raft structure has been adopted in other projects. Fig. 5
one: shows details of the raft used by the authors in a Korea project in
collaboration with Techwin, based on the same concept adopted in
Suvereto. The plant has been realized in 2012. Rear reflectors are

Fig. 3. A floating platform with water veil, artist view. Fig. 4. Floating PV plant with tracking in Suvereto (Italy).

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Fig. 7. Tiengeh basin in Singapore: our project with Upsolar is part of the SERIS testbed
in Singapore.
Fig. 5. Supporting structure for our Korea project.

present in this model. Subsequently a similar concept was proposed

also by Korea Water [23].
In 2012, a new concept was developed and the company Ciel et
Terre proposed a modular raft fully built in polyethylene [24]. In this
model, named Hydrelio, small polyethylene rafts are connected by
plastic bolts and support only one module. This light and flexible
solution has been tested for fixed FPV plants not for platform with
tracking since the mechanical characteristic are not suitable for this
purpose.
The need to reduce installation and deployment costs determined
an evolution of this concept and a raft of dimensions suitable for
standard transport with a truck has been designed and realized. So a
large FPV plant can be built by connecting basic modular rafts (see
Fig. 6). This raft can support the cooling system as well as tracking
systems without any problem. A catwalk can be used to allow
inspection and maintenance of the PV system.
The raft shown in Fig. 6 is the basic constituent of the plant realized
by our group in collaboration with Upsolar in Singapore, in the
Fig. 8. Plot of kW h cost in function of the panel slope.
framework of the testbed organized by Solar Energy Research
Institute of Singapore, as seen in Fig. 7.
Wind load charge has been studied theoretically with encouraging The plot has been obtained using data from PVGIS for the energy
results for the robustness and the module safeguard. Experimentally yield and assuming a 20-year life cycle for the plant.
our platform in Suvereto and in Pisa (Italy) has been hit by wind gusts Finally, a new concept has been developed in order to reduce costs
up to 140 km/h without any problem. and increase the raft robustness especially in the presence of large
This solution has been carefully studied in order to minimize the waves (off-shore platform).
costs while maintaining the required flexibility for the module cou- This solution is shown in Fig. 9 and is based on two concepts:
pling. The module slope has to be chosen in order to minimize the kWh
cost. 1. the use of only one pipe for supporting the raft with a given number
In Fig. 8 the kWh cost is given for two different locations (Catania of panels;
and Singapore) assuming a cost of electric parts of 700 $/kWp and a 2. the linking of rafts by a strong but flexible system of used tires.
cost of raft of 900 $. Each raft is 12 m long and can support a number
of panels ranging from 10 to 6 depending on the panel slope and on the Tires are not a cost (since their disposal is a problem to be solved) and
distance between panels necessary to limit the shadow effects. have very good resistance and flexibility properties. The structure is much
A higher panel slope can augment the energy harvesting (depending simpler than the standard raft and costs are substantially lowered.
on the latitude and weather conditions) but reduces the number of The flexibility of the structure perpendicular to the pipes is an
panels which can be put on a raft and so it increases the raft cost per advantage since the stress is distributed and the absence of a rigid
kWp.

Fig. 6. Modular raft supporting 9 PV modules. Fig. 9. Raft with tires.

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structure dramatically reduce the stress due to wind load or waves.

This solution seems promising also for offshore floating plants since
its flexibility and robustness allow the raft to withstand large sea waves,
and should be compared with other interesting proposals [25].

4. Cooling and cleaning in FPV

In normal operating conditions (no shadings or faults), two factors can

reduce the efficiency of PV modules: a high operating temperature and a
reduction of incoming irradiance due to soiling. The energy impact of
related losses depends on both PV technology and environmental condi-
tions [26]. For silicon crystalline PV technology thermal losses are surely
the most important (they are about −0.45% per °C), and they are important
also in polluted and dusty areas. There are different ways to cool a PV
module, that can be classified in active and passive, i.e. with or without the
use of a pumping system [27,28]. The common element in the most
effective solutions is an active system that uses water efficiently to clean and
cool [27]. Obviously to adopt water based solutions two elements are
critical: enough availability of water and low energy consumption for
pumping, conditions that are satisfied in FPV plants. In the following two
sub-sections two implemented solutions are described and discussed. Fig. 10. P-V curve plots of a PV module with and without water veil. (For interpretation
of the references to color in this figure, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)
4.1. Water Veil Cooling (WVC)

WVC is a simple way to increase module efficiency. It consists in

generating a water veil on the module surface using a pumping system.
Increase in efficiency has two different sources [16]:

• Water has a refractive index of 1.33, which is just in between air

(refractive index 1) and glass (1.55). So a water veil reduces the
reflection effects of solar radiation, which is able to reach the active
part of the PV cells with a lower entrance impedance. This effect
gives a gain of about 2% if radiation is perpendicular to the module
and reaches 6% for angle lower than 30°.
• All the systems performing photoelectric conversions show a loss of
efficiency as the temperature increases.
Fig. 11. Picture of the experimental WVC installed on a FPV plant in Pisa (Italy).

These two combined effects, depending on the latitude and on the

climate conditions, give a gain in energy harvesting (averaged along the
year) which range from 10% to 12% in the temperate regions [16].
The negative effect of solar radiation absorption by water can be
neglected due to the small depth of the water veil, which slightly affects
the infrared part of the solar spectrum.
In Fig. 10 two P-V curves, with (blue curve) or without (red curve)
water veil, are reported: measurements have been taken on a PV
module in Pisa. Radiation was 650 W/m2 and panel temperature 45 °C
before cooling and 28 °C when cooling was switch on.
This result shows that, even in cold months, water veil is effective
and gives an important increase of the electric power. During sunny hot
days, this power enhancement can reach 15%, and even more if
concentrating systems (flat mirrors) are active.
Another important issue is that it is a common practice to sell or buy
PV modules covered by a warranty. The warranty is supposed to cover safe
operation (no electrical, thermal, mechanical and fire hazards) and
acceptable level of performance, which is commonly set to 1% of Fig. 12. Sprinkler cooling system.
degradation a year. Actually, the claim of degradation of 1% per year is
only for commercial purposes, in reality, the degradation of a PV module Water is pumped at low pressure (a few tenths of a bar) using 1 kW
is greater, and, often during the 20 years, a PV module has a not negligible commercial pump that supplies about 100 m3/h. This is the basis of the
probability of rupture [29]. A very long detailed analysis of the necessary energy balance analysis.
tests and of the typical module ruptures is given in this paper, which An estimate of a water veil on a single module suggests that it is
warns against simplistic approaches. The presence of water veil reduces to necessary to get about 1–2 l/min so that 100 m3 can supply a water veil
zero the effects of thermal shocks and reduces the aging of PV modules. to about 1000 PV modules for one hour. At the same time these
Several efforts have been made to build plants that exploit this modules produce a power of 250 kW in the absence of thermal drift.
effect [30,31] which however is practical only when working on a basin It is worth to stress that the yearly energy gain is between 10% and
with the possibility to take water and to discharge it without any 15%, but this is a temporal average along the whole year, whereas the
problem (Figs. 11 and 12). pumping system acts only in the sunny days for a few hours around

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midday and in this period the gain exceeds 15%.

In conclusion only 0.25% of the produced energy is used for the
pumping system whereas the gain in energy due to better light
absorption and absence of thermal drift is of the order of 20%.

4.2. Sprinkler cooling system

A simple solution, alternative to the WVC system, is the use of high

pressure sprinklers. In this case the cooling system consists in a few
standard irrigation sprinklers which work at a pressure of 2–3 bar.
In [32] a water spray cooling technique was proposed and
experimentally tested on a monocrystalline PV module for different
cooling options: cooling of front surface, cooling of rear surface and
cooling on both surfaces of the PV module. From one PV module test,
on a short term basis and without considering the energy consumption Fig. 13. Tracking system with confinement, for a platform of 50 kWp.
of the cooling process, the best cooling option turned out to be
simultaneous cooling of front and rear PV module surfaces. This scheme has been proposed by the authors who however never
This simplified approach reduces the irrigation cost, but leaves the developed the system because of exceedingly high costs [35].
problem of the transparency of the water jet. Companies in the sector for floating PV made several attempts, but
It is not simple to establish what system works better since only an nothing about them has been published to our knowledge. This system
experimental comparative test can solve the problem and up to now we should work well in principle, but it is expensive and is intrinsically
have only tested the first solution for FPV plants. limited to small platforms, 30 m in diameter.
Fig. 13 shows a rendering of a tracking system for a 50 kWp FPV
5. The tracking system system.

A tracking system aims to maximize the yearly PV energy, since the

energy gain, for a given place, is dependent on the type and accuracy of the 5.2. Tracking without confinement: rope system
alignment of the PV cells in the direction of the maximum irradiance. The
tracking error depends on the mechanical structure of the tracker (1-axis, A rope is put around the platform and one/two winches, positioned
2-axis) and on the control method. Actually, a tracking system with flat on a floating buoy or in a near point on the edge of the basin, generate
modules does not require high accuracy (5° are sufficient) to gain the movement. The central mooring is given either by a central axis
additional energy compared to fixed installations. Both sensor-based with a plinth (in Fig. 4) or simply by a heavy concrete block with a
and astronomically tracked systems should achieve this result fairly easily. chain fixed in the center of the platform (Fig. 14).
During days with a clear sky both tracking systems behave the same way,
whereas during cloudy days the system that is using astronomical
calculations will always be pointing at the sun so when the sun comes 5.3. Tracking without confinement: submerged structure
out, the modules are perfectly oriented. On the other hand, when the sun
is not the brightest spot in the sky, sensor-based systems are able to focus In order to obtain a very precise tracking system without external
on a point with higher irradiance, although this makes little difference to elements a further solution has been suggested and patented. Its basic
energy production in a cloudy sky condition. If sensor-based controllers elements are:
are not appropriately designed they suffer from a problem called
“hunting”: they search through the sky without finding a bright spot, 1. a submerged iron wheel, diameter 2.5 m;
using extra energy to turn motors on. So the critical point is not about the 2. an empty tank to push the iron wheel upwards;
type of controller used in flat plate tracking, but about how cost effective 3. some rollers attached to the upper platform to allow for sliding;
the entire system is in comparison to a fixed installation [33]. A tracking 4. three mooring posts to keep the whole structure in place;
system designed for a FPV array must take into account not only that a 5. an electric motor to turn the platform.
solid and fixed base is missing, but also the disturbances coming from the
floating condition. For this reason, we will focus our analysis on the Figs. 15 and 16 show the iron wheel, located under the platform
vertical axis tracking which appears to be quite natural for the floating and supported by an empty tank that is moored in order to fix a basic
platform. In this respect, several solutions for the FPV tracking system reference frame.
have been proposed [34] and patented [35]; they are based on a Varying the ratio of water and air in the tank, we can easily change
mechanical tracking system, whose structure resembles the carousel the pressure between the rollers and the iron wheel (Fig. 17).
tracker [36], and on an alignment system based on a solar sensor. Both
will be treated in the following sub-sections.
Several concepts are described below, that can be divided into two
categories:

• Tracking within a confining structure;

• Tracking without a confining structure: by an external rope, or using
submerged reference structures or by bow thrusts.

5.1. Tracking with a confining structure

The floating platform is surrounded by a fixed structure (circle or

polygon) and a suitable electric motor rotates the platform relative to
the fixed structure. Fig. 14. Tracking system with an external rope.

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Fig. 18. Tracking with bow thrusters.

Fig. 15. The iron wheel of the tracking system. if necessary.

Simulations and measurements of wind load and of structure
strength have been carried out and we have verified that the strengths
involved can be easily managed with a low power bow thruster (in the
Pisa platform two 600 W electric outboard engines and in the Suvereto
platform one 8 kW bow thruster).

5.5. Solar alignment system

The tracking in all these cases cannot be based uniquely on a

geometrical algorithm (astronomical tracking) since a fixed reference
system is in general missing. The platform can move and the rotation
Fig. 16. The mooring system with tank. center itself can be shifted by several meters due to the mooring
system. For this reason, a sensor-based tracking control has been
5.4. Tracking without confinement: bow thrusters adopted and two possibilities have been explored: one that is fixed and
uses the shading patterns to find the solar position and the optimal
The platform is moored to its center and two or more bow thrusters orientation [37], and another based on photo camera images. The
generate the couple for the rotation (Fig. 18). A windlass with an adopted field-tested tracking consists in a commercial camera posi-
anchor enables us to fix the position when necessary. This solution is tioned on the platform and able to take a wide angle image of the sky.
very cheap and has been implemented and tested on our pilot plants Actually a similar approach has been adopted in [38], but only to
both in Pisa and in Suvereto. distinguish sunny from cloudy days.
The full system is then composed of: The acquired images are analyzed by a suitable SW which identifies
the sunlight circle. In the absence of the solar disk, because hidden by
• an electronic guidance system (EGS) able to recognize the sun cloud or fog, the system will target the area of the sky with the brighter
position relative to the platform: this is based on a camera and on a zone. Fig. 19 shows two images of the clearest zone in the sky and the
SW able to identify the maximum radiation zone with a precision of relative SW elaboration for a sunny day (upper images) and a cloudy
a few tenths of one degree; day (lower images).
• one or more electric outboard motors (bow thrusters) positioned at The precision of this apparatus is related to the camera pixel
the hedge of the platform; numbers. For a low cost commercial camera the resolution is below
• a heavy concrete block with a chain that allows the platform to be 0.5° with an error which decreases in clear sky conditions. A more
fixed with a limited movement of its rotation center; complex problem is the ability of our system to achieve the correct
• a second mooring post limiting the rotation of the platform to a positioning of the platform. Our tests confirm that with the bow
certain angle in order to avoid cable twisting when the system is thruster technique it is possible to follow the sun with an error of less
stopped. By turning on and off the two motors, the EGS sets the than 2°. The information so obtained is used to correct the platform
platform in the correct direction toward the sun. position.

If the system needs to be stopped for whatever reason (night, strong

winds, etc) the outer mooring post blocks the rotation of the platform. 6. Floating low concentration systems
Measurement of the tracking precision has been successful and
confirms the possibility to orient the platform with a precision of 2° The use of reflectors, made of cheap materials, in order to
concentrate light and to increase the radiation intensity on the PV
cells, is a good way to increase the energy yield of a PV system.
However, two drawbacks have to be considered:

• the concentrated radiation raises the cell temperature with efficiency

loss or damages;
• the concentration system requires a precise 2-axis tracking mechan-
ism and this increases the structure cost.

The proposed cooled and tracked FPV plants can reduce or solve
both problems in a cost effective way. Only low concentration (0.5 ÷ 2.5
X) is considered, as higher values of concentration require a very
precise tracking system and ad hoc manufactured PV cells [39]. Two
FPV systems with concentrations are proposed and tested: rear flat
Fig. 17. Details of the wheel mechanics. reflectors and Λ shaped flat reflectors.

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Fig. 19. Camera acquisition of sun image: on the left two images of clear (upper) and cloudy (lower) sky; on the right the relative SW reconstruction.

6.1. The rear reflectors effects. Actually, study and measurements performed on the FPV
structure in Suvereto (Italy), enable us to conclude that the wind stress
Modules are equipped with reflectors inclined by an optimal angle on the structure can be reduced "by" an approximate factor of 10 for
(for example 25°), and the platform is oriented to optimize the solar wind acting on the rear of the modules.
radiation on the modules. Fig. 20 shows a graphical view of the rear
reflector concentration system, where the main geometrical data are 6.2. The Λ-trough concentrator
reported. Shadows are unavoidable when the sun height is lower than
the “limit angle”. In order to overcome the limits of mirrors between rows, a second
The real energy effectiveness of such solution has to be evaluated solution has been proposed with reflectors positioned in a Λ shape
against the important phenomenon of uneven distribution of solar [41,42]. In this case PV modules are inclined by a small angle (2–5°)
radiation on the PV modules. A complete two-dimensional model of a necessary to generate a regular flow of the water veil, and are oriented
fixed low concentration PV system is reported in [34,40], where also in line with the sun radiation.
the positive impact of Distributed (at level of substring) Maximum Reflectors are positioned on the side of the modules and form a
Power Tracker is considered. However, in [40], it is stated that, suitable angle with the horizon.
according to the angle of the reflectors, the energy gain ranges from The geometrical concentration ratio depends on the reflector angle
18% to 33%. This model does not take into account the effects of higher and on the correct alignment with solar radiation. In Fig. 21 the
PV temperatures and the lateral shading that decrease the energy gain, configuration with reflectors at 60° is shown. In this case λC = 2. Here
but in the case of FPV, due to the presence of tracking and cooling, the blue line is the PV module and the red ones are the reflectors; the
these percentages can be applied. Furthermore, a large space occupied yellow lines represent the solar radiation, the magenta and green ones
by the catwalk should be left between modules and reflectors. the reflected radiation.
An important advantage of the presence of rear reflectors on a In this case the module width is 0.8 m., but mismatches in the
tracking floating platform is the dramatic reduction of wind load

Fig. 20. Rear reflectors: modules in green, reflectors in red. (For interpretation of the
references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this Fig. 21. Scheme of Λ reflector with oblique radiation. (For interpretation of the
article.) references to color in this figure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

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alignment are possible and we have to avoid inhomogeneity in the solar

radiation. For this reason, it is better to work with larger reflectors in
such a way as to guarantee a homogeneous increase of the radiation,
even in the case of non-perfect alignment. The system works correctly
when the radiation angle is more than 85.5°, even if tracking is not very
precise.
The plot below illustrates what happens when the radiation is not
exactly aligned with the module axis. In this case the module width is
80 cm. We have simulated a case where contribution to the reflected
radiation is asymmetric for the two reflectors, but thanks to the excess
in the width of the reflectors (1 m compared to the theoretical minimal Fig. 23. Pisa (Italy) plant with Λ shaped reflectors.
width of 0.8 m), the concentration factor is always 2 and the radiation
on the module is homogeneous.
If altitude is very low, azimuth angle and solar radiation angle in the 7. Storage systems with compressed air
y-z plane almost coincide. When altitude is high, the mismatch between
azimuth and reflector axis is strongly reduced and for 90° it goes to The possibility of reshaping the generation curve of an FPV curve
zero (as obvious). could increase the interest in such technology, especially if it is
The value of λC is related to the reflector angle as well as the connected to an isolated grid. Among the possible solutions for storing
reflector size and the height of the reflector system. This is synthesized energy the ones that can exploit the water environment and are
in Fig. 22 where the concentration factor and module width and height integrated in floating structures deserve most attention. In this context
are given versus the reflector angle. Compressed air energy storage systems (CAES) are one of the most
It is evident that this reflector configuration is interesting in the promising technologies in the field, because they are characterized by
range 60–70°. Lower angles do not give a significant improvement of high reliability, low environmental impact and remarkable energy
solar radiation, while higher angles imply very large reflectors with a density. Specifically the micro-CAES system, with a rigid storage vessel,
visual and mechanical impact that gives rise to severe problems. guarantees a high portability of the system and a higher adaptability
even with distributed or stand-alone energy productions [44,45]. In
[19], a compressed air storage system (integrated in a PV floating
6.3. Diffuse light problem plant) is proposed: the raft pipes are in steel, 12 m long, 5 mm thick,
with an external diameter of 40 cm, and are able to support internal
One of the problems of concentration systems lies in the impossi- pressure up to 200 bar.
bility to focus diffuse light with lens or parabolic mirrors, a big problem With these parameters, the pipe weight, WP, is about 1200 kg (the
considering that diffuse light can be a high percentage of solar radiation exact weight depends on details of the caps and on the steel used) and
according to the latitude and climate conditions of the place in the internal volume VPi is 2.87 m3.
question. On the other hand, the concentration with a flat mirror is This mass has to be added to the mass of PV structure, WPV,
effective even in the presence of diffuse radiation and even if the (modules, copper cables, beams and catwalks). All together they can
concentration geometrical factor drops to 50% [43]. reach 500 kg, plus of course the compressed air which at pressure, Pair,
This option has been adopted in the pilot plant in Pisa (see Fig. 23). equal to 200 bar, has a mass, Wair, of about 700 kg. Therefore the full
This pilot plant has been used to measure the system performance and raft weight, Wp + WPV + Wair, ranges from 1700 to 2400 kg, with a
to test the tracking system efficiency. pipes buoyancy force, FB, of 3020 kg (external volume is slightly more
The reflector angle is 62.5°, concentration 2.142 X and the than 3 m3).
reflectors width is 10% larger than the module. Therefore the tracking So buoyancy is assured and one or more human operators can
system should align the platform with a maximum error of 4.5° which safely work on an isolated raft.
is much larger than the 2° precision guaranteed by our bow thrusters What is important however is that the steel pipes are immersed for at
tracking system. least two thirds in the basin water if pressure is zero but for almost 80% if
cylinders are charged with compressed air and this guarantees an efficient
heat exchange between the water basin and the air inside the pipes.
The main problem in CAES is the managing of the thermal balance.
Most of the efforts of companies and research institutes working in this
field is devoted to this problem and it is very important to choose
between isothermal compression with a large amount of heat exchange
or adiabatic compression with the problem of storing the heat and
recovering it in an efficient way.
The isothermal compression allows the storage of a lot of energy.
However, most of the storage energy is actually transferred to the heat
reservoir, which guarantees the isothermal process and this is the
critical point of the process since for a pressure of 200 bar the heat
transfer to the thermal bath is 77,460 Cal.
Thankfully, our cylinders are made of steel which has a good
conductivity value λ = 40–50 (depending on the carbon content) so
that, assuming a jump in temperature of only 5 °C, the heat transfer
takes place in a very short time: 385 s for 200 bar pressure. This time is
very short compared with the typical period of solar energy harvesting
which ranges between 15,000 and 20,000 s, so that in theory we are
granted that an approximated isothermal process is possible.
The same happens for the expansion process, which takes place
Fig. 22. Plot of concentration factor λC and of reflectors sizes versus reflector angle. over an even longer period when energy is requested during the night

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or on cloudy days.
The compressor and the pneumatic motor have to be treated with
caution and a good heat exchanger is important in order to reduce the
irreversible process as much as possible. This is surely a very delicate
technical problem, which at present is under study and will not be
discussed in this paper.

8. Experimental results

Data analyzed come from two different experimental setups: the

30 kW in Pisa (Italy) platform (with tracking cooling, reflectors, as well
as a land-based PV installation for comparison) and the 200 kWp in the
Suvereto (Livorno, Italy) platform with a tracking system.

8.1. FPV plant in Pisa

The FPV system has been installed in an irrigation basin (about

4000 m2 area and 4 m deep), near Pisa (lat. 43.7228°N). This installa-
tion has been mainly used as an outdoor laboratory so that many more
data are available: 250 Wp (tolerance 0/+5 W), 60 cells, polycrystalline
Fig. 24. % Gain in the energy yield due to the reflectors.
PV modules have been installed. The main thermal characteristics of
this module are: NOCT= 45 °C +/−2 K; open circuit voltage, short
circuit current and maximum power thermal coefficients are equal to
−0,32%/K, 0,04%/K, −0,45%/K, respectively; dimensions (L × W × H
in mm) are 998 × 1667 × 35; the weight (kg) is 18 kg. A further
characteristic of this module is a special hardened low-iron glass with
anti-reflex coating.

8.1.1. South-oriented modules with a 35° slope, on land and on the

platform
Albedo analysis has been performed comparing data for a south-
oriented module on the platform with a 35° tilt angle (it maximizes the
yearly energy production for a fixed tilted plate) and the same located
on the ground 20 m away from the lake surface on a grassy area.
Some results have been given in [46] and values are spread out
within 3%, which is the error in our measurement (taking into account
PV tolerance and errors on the voltage power characteristics).
Measurements were further extended for several days in November
2011, April and June 2012 and a negligible increase was found of 2.2%
Fig. 25. Aerial view of FPV in Suvereto (LI, Italy).
+/−1%. Our conclusion is that albedo effects are not meaningful in our
experiment in Pisa. Radiation reflected from water in the upper
direction is however significant and suggests possible advantages when
using bifacial modules.
Tests were performed to evaluate the effect of cooling system on PV
module efficiency.
Measurements were taken for two different setups:

• south-oriented panels with a 35° slope (with and without water veil);
• sun-oriented panels, with reflectors and with a 2° slope (with and
without water veil).

Measurements confirm a reduction of thermal drift losses, which is

more important for the panel with reflectors. Gain in power ranges
from 8% to 12% for normal panels with a 35° slope, to 10–20% for
panels with reflectors and 2° slope. In this case the water veil is
mandatory since the concentration of solar radiation pushes the panel
Fig. 26. Solar path for the FPV plant in Suvereto.
temperature up to 80 °C on sunny days.

8.1.2. Use of reflectors with cooling The stars indicate measurements taken in days when there is a
Measurements on module with 2° slope have been taken with and partial or totally cloudy sky, circles refer to clear sky conditions (when
without reflectors. diffuse light is approximately only 20–30% of the total radiation).
Our results about the energy gain for system with and without It is worth noticing that the gain in energy yield never approaches
reflectors are given in Fig. 24, where data from winter 2011 and from the theoretical value λC = 2.142 but is always below 1.8.
spring 2012 are collected and plotted versus the intensity of solar Several measurements of the solar radiation intensity in different
radiation. All these data are taken between the hours 10 A.M. and 2 parts of the PV module have been taken and remarkable uneven
P.M. and with the cooling mechanism active. distribution of irradiance on the PV module has been noticed (about

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fully exploiting their potentiality, that is, cooling and tracking. In our
plants in Pisa and Suvereto these two effects have been measured
and experimental findings confirm the possibility of gaining up to
30% in energy.
3. We have built the Pisa plant using flat reflectors as we are convinced
that this dramatically lowers the kW h price. This is only partially
true since diffuse light and inhomogeneity in reflected radiation
reduce the energy gain. However, we recommend this technique for
dry climate regions (Maghreb and the Gulf, for example) where
tracking systems together with flat reflector systems can consider-
ably lower the kW h cost.
4. Our suggestion for using the raft pipes as a natural compressed air
reservoir for an isothermal process opens up a promising field of
Fig. 27. Data from Suvereto plant. applied research. Work is in progress.
5. Finally, we wish to emphasize that this is only the very beginning
20%). This inhomogeneity, mainly due to a not perfectly flat mirror and that a large scale production of floating plants will lower the raft
shape, is one of the reasons of this limit. costs considerably. Furthermore, new concepts like that of a mono-
Another more basic problem is related to the diffuse light compo- tube raft tied with tires may simplify the floating structure and
nent. Even on a clear day the diffuse light in Pisa is at least 30% and the enable the production of kW h at a much lower price than the
concentration factor in this case is 50%. standard PV land-based plant.
We want to stress that λCexp can be quite high also in cases of low
radiation. On days of very clear sky in November we found λCexp = 1.8, In conclusion, we believe that the future of the PV plant will be on
whereas on cloudy days in May with the same solar radiation intensity water.
is λCexp = 1.3. The reflectors work quite well with direct radiation, but
are less efficient if only diffuse radiation is present. References
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