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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Enabling Floating Solar (FPV) Deployment: Policy and Operational Considerations

Conference ·
OSTI ID:1875536

Floating solar photovoltaics, or "floating PV", offer an opportunity for scaling up the deployment of renewable energy on inland and offshore bodies of water. Floating PV presents the opportunity to: increase clean energy generation to help meet growing demand; lessen the potential for land-use conflicts; help existing hydropower systems optimize their operation; and adapt to increasing temperatures and drought events by reducing the rate of evapotranspiration of waterways. There is significant promise for floating PV deployment in several Southeast Asian countries, especially those rich in hydropower resources, such as Laos and Thailand, but deployment remains limited. This slide deck presents an overview of NREL's research on (1) the policy, economic, environmental, and cultural barriers that currently exist, (2) recently completed modeling exercise on the potential operational benefits of pairing floating PV and hydropower, (3) international best practices that can be adopted to Southeast Asia, and (4) plans for high-resolution floating PV technical potential assessment.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1875536
Report Number(s):
NREL/PR-7A40-83228; MainId:84001; UUID:a33c784a-7a4d-43f1-8a5f-a3332f16352f; MainAdminID:64811
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English