{"id":634480,"date":"2024-09-06T15:09:56","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T12:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/europes-biggest-floating-solar-farm-could-power-a-large-town\/"},"modified":"2024-09-06T15:09:56","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T12:09:56","slug":"europes-biggest-floating-solar-farm-could-power-a-large-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/europes-biggest-floating-solar-farm-could-power-a-large-town\/","title":{"rendered":"#Europe\u2019s biggest floating solar farm could power a large town"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3df36d8f1f2\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3df36d8f1f2\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/europes-biggest-floating-solar-farm-could-power-a-large-town\/#Floating_solar_is_getting_its_moment_in_the_sun\" >Floating solar is getting its moment in the sun<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/europes-biggest-floating-solar-farm-could-power-a-large-town\/#Netherlands_leads_Europe_in_floating_solar\" >Netherlands leads Europe in floating solar<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n                            <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Berlin-based renewable energy firm Q Energy has secured <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u20ac<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">50mn in debt finance to complete work on Europe\u2019s largest floating solar farm, set to power up next year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The plant is already under construction at the site of a former quarry in the Haute-Marne region of France. Once finished, the farm will comprise 134,649 floating solar panels covering an area equivalent to 180 football pitches. The huge 73MW array will cater to the electricity needs of around 37,000 people, Q Energy estimates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Floating solar farms \u2014 or \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">floatovoltaics\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 work much like their land-based cousins, but on water. Each one comprises an island of panels, mounted atop a buoyant platform, and anchored to the bottom of the water body by cables.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Floating_solar_is_getting_its_moment_in_the_sun\"><\/span><b>Floating solar is getting its moment in the sun<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While they only make up a <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20221116-the-floating-solar-panels-that-track-the-sun\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">small percentage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of total solar energy generation, global\u00a0 floatovoltaics capacity has skyrocketed in recent years, from just <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/figure\/Upper-Graph-Global-installed-Floating-PV-capacity-and-annual-installations-1-50_fig10_354690330\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">68MW in 2015<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to over <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-08-03\/floating-solar-panels-turn-old-industrial-sites-into-green-energy-goldmines\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3GW in 2022<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"inarticle-wrapper latest channel-cta hs-embed-tnw\">\n<div id=\"hs-embed-tnw\" class=\"channel-cta-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"channel-cta-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tnw.events\/hardfork-2018\/uploads\/visuals\/tnw-newsletter.png\"\/><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tnw.events\/hardfork-2018\/uploads\/visuals\/tnw-newsletter.png\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"channel-cta-input\">\n<p class=\"channel-cta-title\">The &lt;3 of EU tech<\/p>\n<p class=\"channel-cta-tagline\">The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol&#8217; founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It&#8217;s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Floatovoltaics offer some distinct advantages over land-based PV. The cooling effect of the water can help cool the panels, <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ietresearch.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1049\/iet-rpg.2015.0120?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_aq0HTGDMm3XqQWDmyOqtCqjSksVJUrrLI4ktpdcGgto-1635259467-0-gqNtZGzNAiWjcnBszQjR\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">boosting efficiency<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. By covering the surface of a reservoir or lake, floating arrays also reduce evaporation, saving precious fresh water. But the biggest selling point is that floating solar panels don\u2019t use land.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By some <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-021-82042-5\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">estimates<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, countries will have to give over up to 5% of all their land <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to solar panels in order to fully decarbonise by 2050 \u2014 potentially further fuelling <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/article\/2024\/jun\/07\/plans-uk-biggest-solar-farm-botley-west-oxfordshire\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">existing tensions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S2214629623001330\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">farmers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, conservationists, and other land users.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Floating solar arrays, deployed on man-made reservoirs or lakes that aren\u2019t used for recreation, could help alleviate the problem. Especially for land-scarce countries, it simply makes sense. It\u2019s the same logic that <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/green\/2024\/07\/09\/new-uk-government-lifts-absurd-onshore-wind-ban-what-could-it-mean-for-bills-and-net-zero\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pushed wind farms offshore<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bulk of growth in floating solar has been in the population-dense regions of East Asia. The <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rechargenews.com\/energy-transition\/smooth-operator-worlds-largest-floating-solar-plant-links-with-wind-and-storage\/2-1-1139896\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">world\u2019s biggest plant<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Dezhou Dingzhuang solar array in China, has a peak output of 320MW. Meanwhile, South Korea is currently <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/soeasyrobot.com\/top-ten-floating-solar-farms-by-capacity\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">building<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a floatovoltaics park that will eclipse all others with a capacity of 2GW \u2014 enough to power around 1 million homes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Netherlands_leads_Europe_in_floating_solar\"><\/span><b>Netherlands leads Europe in floating solar<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Europe, the Netherlands \u2014 20% of which is covered by water \u2014 is leading by a long shot. Dutch renewable energy company GorenLeven has installed 500,000 panels on lakes throughout the tiny country. The Netherlands is home to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Europe\u2019s current largest floating solar park, a 27.4 MW operation constructed by German firm BayWa.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The land of bicycles, windmills and cheese is also set to build <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">floating solar plants in the ocean<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Dutch startup Solar Duck recently installed its first pilot <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rwe.com\/en\/press\/rwe-offshore-wind-gmbh\/2024-07-04-solarduck-and-rwe-successfully-install-offshore-floating-solar-pilot-meganser\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">offshore solar platform<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the North Sea. However, waves and saltwater present a host of engineering challenges, which is why the bulk of floating solar projects are based on inland reservoirs. Even here, the potential is huge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-022-01525-1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">paper<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nature<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2022 estimated that covering 10% of the world\u2019s hydropower reservoirs with floating solar panels could produce 4,000 GW of power-generating capacity. That\u2019s equivalent to all the fossil-fuel plants in operation worldwide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The floating solar market <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has been <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.precedenceresearch.com\/floating-solar-market#:~:text=The%20global%20floating%20solar%20market,forecast%20period%202023%20to%202032.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">valued<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at $4bn in 2022 and is expected to hit $54bn by 2032. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are also several projects and many others underway in Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, and Greece, among others. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With such rapid growth, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q Energy\u2019s floating solar farm\u2019s title of Europe\u2019s largest probably won\u2019t stand for all that long. <\/span>\n                        <\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/europes-biggest-floating-solar-farm-could-power-a-large-town\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Berlin-based renewable energy firm Q Energy has secured \u20ac50mn in debt finance to complete work on Europe\u2019s largest floating solar farm, set to power up next year. The plant is already under construction at the site of a former quarry in the Haute-Marne region of France. Once finished, the farm will comprise 134,649 floating solar&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":634481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw-blurple?filter_last=1&fit=1280%2C640&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2024%2F09%2Feuropes-largest-floating-solar-farm-france.jpg&signature=3a9adfe6b2d351cfdb70f01c3d3166c6","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-634480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}