From the New York Times:
Hat tip to Eli at Rabett Run.
Distributed Solar: The Democratizaton of Energy
Floatovoltaics
This entry was posted in adaptation, Anthropocene, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, BNEF, Buckminster Fuller, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, distributed generation, ecology, electricity, electricity markets, Eli Rabett, energy, energy utilities, engineering, environment, Epcot, grid defection, Hermann Scheer, Hyper Anthropocene, investment in wind and solar energy, Mark Jacobson, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, SolarPV.tv, Spaceship Earth, zero carbon. Bookmark the permalink.
One interesting advantage that the article mentions is that the modules can easily turn to follow the sun from east to west each day. That’s probably worth another 20-30% output, which would certainly cover any extra costs for floats and corrosion covering. But the pictures shown appear to be in big rigid units which can’t turn. I wonder if they’re actually anchored to the lake floor for the sake of holding against wind.