Tiny Floating Solar Projects Makes Big Waves In US

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The Intertubes practically blew up earlier this week when the California floating solar firm Noria Energy dropped word that work is underway on its latest project, the 50-kilowatt Aurea Solar array taking shape on a water supply reservoir in Golden, Colorado. That’s kilowatts as in kilowatts, not gigawatts or even megawatts. So, why all the fuss over such a modestly scaled project?

Big Fuss Over Small Floating Solar Power Plant

The proximate cause of the fuss involves Noria’s proprietary AquaPhi solar tracking system. Solar trackers are commonly used to increase the productivity of land-based solar arrays. They guide solar panels into a series of optimal sun-gathering positions during the course of the sun’s journey across the sky.

The floating solar industry is a relatively new development in the PV field, requiring its own suite of water-specific hardware. Solar trackers have not been high on the to-do list, and that’s where Noria has spotted an opening. The Colorado array will be the first time Noria has deployed the AquaPhi system in the US.

“AquaPhi® allows floating solar systems to track the sun across the sky, by rotating the solar islands, increasing the system’s energy output by 10–20%,” Nokia explains. According to the company, the new tracking system does not require a purpose-built floating solar array. It can be slipped into plans for new solar projects, and it can be added to existing projects as a retrofit.

If all goes according to plan, the Colorado project will help improve the economic case for the deployment of floating solar arrays in water systems at the large end of the scale, in addition to small-scale applications. The 50-kilowatt pilot project will be situated on Fairmont Reservoir, where it will provide Consolidated Mutual Water Company with a zero-emission source of energy for its operations. CMWC is also looking forward to benefiting from the shade cast by the solar panels, which will save water that would otherwise be lost to evaporation.

More Floating Solar Is On The Way

The idea of situating solar panels on water supply reservoirs has already begun to catch on in the US, though slowly. Water system operators squeezed for space are among the interested parties. Even the US Department of Defense has been getting into the act. Noria aims to spur the trend along with the Fairmont Reservoir demonstration, which should be up and running within the next few weeks.

Noria’s timing is right on the button. Despite the sudden shift in federal energy policy this year, signs of fresh momentum in the floating solar field are beginning to materialize.

In Texas, for example, earlier this month, the Houston-based floating solar startup Third Pillar Solar announced that it will investigate the potential to locate to 500 megawatts of floating solar panels in a reservoir system operated by Diamond Infrastructure Solutions, with a focus on water conservation as well as clean energy.

“The initiative marks the beginning of one of the largest floating solar undertakings in the Americas, leveraging technology designed to conserve an estimated 15% of freshwater typically lost to evaporation,” Third Pillar noted in a press statement on August 18.

“The comprehensive floating solar initiative represents a potential investment exceeding $700 million and is expected to generate up to 500MW of clean energy — all while minimizing land development and helping conserve approximately 15% of freshwater currently lost to evaporation in a fast-growing, water-stressed region,” the company emphasized.

If all goes according to plan, Third Pillar anticipates that it will have all projects up and running within the next five years.

All This And Saving Farmland, Too

Saving farmland from solar development has suddenly emerged as a top priority for the US Department of Agriculture, and Third Pillar works that angle as well.

“This agreement demonstrates the growing appetite for utility-scale energy solutions and highlights how floating solar can enhance and transform the value of existing infrastructure, all while providing cost-competitive energy, preserving agricultural land, reducing evaporation losses, and existing out of public view,” explains Third Pillar CEO Jaimeet Gulati.

With the aim of saving farmland from inappropriate development in mind, the federal government could emerge as a leading stakeholder in the floating solar field, considering that it controls enough reservoir surface to host a technical potential of 1,476 terawatt-hours in solar power generation per year. That’s equivalent to the electricity demand of about 100 million US households, according to a study posted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory earlier this year.

More Opportunities For Floating Solar In The US

When the study was posted back in mid-January, NREL cautioned that only a fraction of that potential could be realistically recovered. Along with engineering obstacles, floating solar arrays on federal reservoirs would have to make way for recreation and habitat conservation.

Still, even just 10% of 1,476 terawatt-hours would make an impressive dent in the growing gap between electricity supply and demand in the US.

Unfortunately for floating solar fans, the federal reservoir door has been shut by the new “American Energy Dominance” energy policy. Though the policy supports the hydropower, geothermal, biomass, and even marine energy industries, solar energy did not make the cut.

Opportunities abound elsewhere, though. Back in 2018, NREL took a look at the floating solar potential of every human-made body of water in the US. After weeding out numerous sites unsuitable for floating solar development, NREL identified 24,000 sites that could host enough solar panels to provide for 10% of the nation’s annual electricity production.

Electricity demand has skyrocketed in the seven years since then, and Third Pillar is among the US stakeholders meeting the moment. “The company focuses exclusively on floating solar installations on underutilized waterbodies such as wastewater lagoons, reclaimed sand and gravel pits, and industrial reservoirs to address land use concerns associated with ground-mounted solar projects,” Third Pillar says of itself, noting that it currently lists 60 floating solar projects under development in its 11-state pipeline.

Holding The Torch For Floating Solar

Circling back around to Noria, the choice of Golden, Colorado, for a first-of-its-kind demonstration of the new tracking system is not a coincidence. Golden is the host city for the NREL campus, and Noria has partnered with NREL and Idaho National Laboratory to develop the AquaPV floating solar toolkit, aimed at accelerating uptake among the nation’s many reservoirs.

Other partners in the project are the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, Oregon State University, the global risk management and certification firm DNV, the small-scale hydroelectric specialist Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, and the Cat Creek Energy pumped storage hydropower project, currently under development in Idaho.

Photo (cropped): The floating solar startup Noria Energy is bringing its new efficiency-enhancing solar tracking system to the US, in a first-of-its-kind demonstration project at a water supply reservoir in Golden, Colorado (courtesy of Noria).