Floating Solar Tech May Help Utilities Cut Costs

Solar panels floating on wastewater ponds are being hailed as a major environmental breakthrough, enabling utilities to cut their energy costs.

A wastewater treatment plant in Jamestown, Australia, began installing the technology this year. “Sydney-based Infratech Industries developed new solar technology for the site, at a cost of $12 million,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

Floating solar farms are attractive in places where land is expensive. “The UK’s first floating solar plant was built by French company Ciel et Terre and installed on a reservoir in Berkshire,” Planet Experts reported. The Sheeplands farmer who owns the reservoir “said that the floating plant has helped him to diversify his revenue and helped him save the equivalent of nearly $39,000 on his farm’s power bills.”

Japanese electronics maker Kyocera is also investing in this technology, setting out to create the largest floating solar plant in the world near Osaka.

At the Australian wastewater plant, energy efficiency is the goal. Infratech director Felicia Whiting explained that water brings the temperature of the panels down, making them more efficient.

"Solar panels don't really operate when they're at a high temperature, so we get a longevity of the panels and also the solar rafts can shade the water," she said, per ABC. "We actually get a cooling of the water which is beneficial for water treatment. We can get about 57 percent more efficiency than a land-based solar system."

The installation helps prevent algae outbreaks and has increased water conservation because it blocks evaporation.

"This floating solar has a dual benefit of being able to prevent water evaporation and that translates into water savings," she said. "For a one megawatt plant, that's about 70,000 kiloliters a year. That's a big saving and it's also a revenue for any host water utility to save that water and on-sell it."