Floating Solar in Hydropower Projects Could Generate 7.6 TW of Energy Annually

<p>A hybrid system combining floating solar and hydropower projects may have the potential to generate a significant amount of clean energy annually.</p><p>According to a research report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (<a href="https://www.nrel.gov/">NREL</a>), the addition of floating solar projects on the top of water bodies, which already have hydropower stations, can annually generate around 7.6 TW of clean energy from the solar photovoltaic systems alone. For comparison, the global final electricity consumption was just over 22,300 TWh in 2018, the most recent year for which statistics are available.</p><p>The report finds that the collaboration of floating solar project with hydropower project has several benefits. A hybrid system can reduce the transmission cost by connecting both systems to a common substation, and both systems can balance each other too. A hybrid system equipped with a pumped-storage hydropower project can also store surplus solar energy generated by floating solar panels.</p><p> </p><p><i>[source: mercomindia.com, 08/10/2020]</i></p>

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