Environmental and technical impacts of floating photovoltaic plants as an emerging clean energy technology

Floating photovoltaic (FPV) plants present several benefits in comparison with ground-mounted photovoltaics (PVs) and could have major positive environmental and technical impacts globally. FPVs do not occupy habitable and productive areas and can be deployed in degraded environments and reduce land-use conflicts. Saving water through mitigating evaporation and improving water security in arid regions combined with the flexibility for deployment on different water bodies including drinking water reservoirs are other advantages of FPVs. They also have higher efficiency than ground-mounted PV solar and are compatible with the existing hydropower infrastructures, which supports diversifying the energy supply and its resilience. Despite the notable growth of FPVs on an international scale, lack of supporting policies and development roadmaps by the governments could hinder FPVs’ sustainable growth. Long-term reliability of the floating structures is also one of the existing concerns that if not answered could limit the expansion of this emerging technology.