Author(s): Mario Lopez; Fernando Soto; Alejandro Cebada

Linked Author(s): Alejandro Cebada

Keywords: Marine renewable energy; Solar photovoltaics; Marine spatial planning; Marine structures

Abstract: Energy companies foresee solar energy as the leading renewable energy of the future, with over a third of the energy mix for 2050 (DNVGL, 2020; BP, 2017). On theses grounds, floating photovoltaic (FPV) technologies are raising as a strong alternative to conventional ground-mounted PV plants. The main advantage of FPV systems lies in their increased energy efficiency due to the cooling effect of the water (Liu et al., 2017). FPVs are mainly installed in freshwater bodies (Rosa Clot et al., 2020), but they could greatly benefit from an offshore perspective , given the massive amount of available space and its economic advantages (Trapani 2013). This works presents and applies a novel methodology to design and to evaluate a marine FPV plant under realistic environmental conditions. The Port of Vigo (NW Spain) was selected as case study given its natural shelter against extreme wave conditions . The FPV system corresponds to a Class 1 plant according to Cazzaniga (2020). First, a multicriteria analysis was carried out using geospatial data to determine the best area for the deployment of a FPV plant within the port estuary. The aim of this analysis was to maximize energy production while minimizing the exposure to wind, waves, tides and currents and taking into account marine spatial planning criteria (Ehler, 2018). The actual uses of the port´s hinterland, the environmental restrictions, and the physical constraints, such as the bathymetry or the coastal morphology, were used as spatial limiting factors. Additionally, the energy production of the proposed FPV plant was estimated for the selected location. Once the best area was determined, the reliability of the FPV structure against the wave, wind and current loads was analyzed and verified through numerical modelling. To assess all relevant motions, pressures and forces, a complete hydrodynamic analysis was carried out. This approach is based on the boundary element method and the potential flow theory to solve the wave-structure interaction in the time domain, a methodology that has been successfully applied to other marine renewable energy technologies (e.g. López et al., 2018). This methodology allowed an iterative process through which key aspects of the design, such as the general layout, the mooring system or the connections between floating structures were optimized berating in mind their structural reliability.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/IAHR-39WC252171192022354

Year: 2022