Floating Offshore Photovoltaics across Geographies: An Enhanced Model of Water Cooling

Abdulhadi Ayyad, Sara Golroodbari () and Wilfried van Sark
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Abdulhadi Ayyad: Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands
Sara Golroodbari: Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands
Wilfried van Sark: Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-24

Abstract: Solar photovoltaics (PV) continues to grow rapidly across the world and now accounts for a very considerable proportion of all non-fossil-fuel electricity. With the continuing urgency of greenhouse gas abatement, the growth of solar PV is inevitable. Competition with other land uses and the desire to optimize the efficiency of the panels by making use of water cooling are compelling arguments for offshore floating PV (OFPV), a trend that could also benefit from the existing infrastructure recently built for offshore wind farms. Building on our earlier work, we present a larger dataset (n = 82) located around the globe to assess global yield (dis)advantages while also accounting for a modified form of water cooling of the offshore panels. Using our results regarding the Köppen–Geiger (KG) classification system and using a statistical learning method, we demonstrate that the KG climate classification system has limited validity in predicting the likely gains from OFPV. Finally, we also explore a small subset of sites to demonstrate that economics, alongside geography and technology, impacts the feasibility of locating PV panels offshore.

Keywords: solar PV; climate classification; K-means methods; energy economics (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: 2024
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