Experimental Modelling of a Floating Solar Power Plant Array under Wave Forcing

Sylvain Delacroix (), Sylvain Bourdier, Thomas Soulard, Hashim Elzaabalawy and Polina Vasilenko
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Sylvain Delacroix: Centrale Nantes, LHEEA Laboratory, 44321 Nantes, France
Sylvain Bourdier: Centrale Nantes, LHEEA Laboratory, 44321 Nantes, France
Thomas Soulard: Centrale Nantes, LHEEA Laboratory, 44321 Nantes, France
Hashim Elzaabalawy: HelioRec, 1 Rue Mondesir, 44000 Nantes, France
Polina Vasilenko: HelioRec, 1 Rue Mondesir, 44000 Nantes, France

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 13, 1-21

Abstract: Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) plants are already well developed, and deployed all over the world, on calm water inland lakes, or in sheltered locations. They are now progressing to be installed in nearshore sites, and in deep water seas. The company HelioRec, developing floating modules to form FPV arrays to be deployed in nearshore areas, was awarded free-of-charge testing of their system by the Marine Energy Alliance (MEA) European program. This paper describes the experimental testing of the 1:1 scale float system, composed of 16 floating modules supporting solar panels and three footpaths, carried out in Centrale Nantes’ ocean wave tank, allowing regular and irregular frontal and oblique wave conditions. Experimental results show that, even in the narrow wave spectrum experimentally achievable, a specific response from the array was revealed: the multibody articulated system exhibits a first-order pitch resonant mode when wavelengths are about twice the floater length. A shadowing effect, leading to smaller motions of rear floaters, is also observed, for small wavelengths only.

Keywords: floating PV system; model testing; wave-induced response (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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