LSU AgCenter Researcher Explores Potential Of Floating Solar Panels

TOBIE BLANCHARD

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

Solar panels can be found perched atop buildings and set out across fields where they work to harvest the energy of the sun. M.P. Hayes wants to see if non-economic bodies of water such as wastewater treatment, industrial oxidation or irrigation ponds can play a part in this process. 

Hayes, an assistant professor and industrial water quality specialist with the LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant, received a grant from the LSU Institute for Energy Innovation and LSU Office of Research and Economic Development to conduct this research. This is one of 10 Research for Energy Innovation grants LSU distributed. 

An aim of the study is to see if this type of system could eventually help disadvantaged communities where water quality metrics and high energy prices are a burden for residents. 

Hayes and his team, which includes Chao Wang with the LSU College of Engineering and Greg Upton with the LSU Center for Energy Studies, are in the design phase and said the initial two years of the study will look at the efficiencies of the floated panels. 

“Current literature indicates floating solar panels may actually be more efficient from ambient water cooling than a standard land-based unit,” Hayes said. 

In the initial year, Hayes will use one floating unit on a rural municipal wastewater pond. The unit will have eight panels on it and will be shaped like a triangle to catch the most daylight possible. The team will compare that with another unit set on land near the floating panel to test efficiency between the floating unit and a standard unit. 

Hayes said an advantage to floating the panels is that it offers an alternative space from traditional avenues like agricultural land. 

“With the floating units, we think that they can be hidden in resources that aren't currently being utilized,” he said. 

Hayes said the team plans to have a design that will be replicated and used in multiple stakeholder ponds across the state in the second year to gather additional data. He is working with community and industry partners on this project. 

“There are many industrial manufacturers realizing that they might be in one of these burdened areas and are wanting to contribute to a positive change in this field,” he said. “Some are looking at floating solar as a possibility for their oxidation ponds so they can have a renewable power source and not take up as much energy from the grid.”

Hayes said wastewater treatment facilities and other municipal organizations are interested in the potential for solar energy to power facilities in the event of power outages following storms or other issues. 

A study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory looked at the cost analysis of floating solar systems. The cost was about 26 cents more per watt than a standard system. Hayes said a lot of the costs had to do with maintenance and the type of water bodies they were in. 

“The study was conducted for deep water like drinking water reservoirs, lakes and open water areas with tidal movement and wind,” Hayes said. “The maintenance associated with those is quite a bit because of the amount of wiring and the infrastructure you have to have in place to keep it in that location.”

Hayes thinks that the cost could be less in the smaller bodies of water that he is targeting with his study. 

Being in Louisiana, Hayes said there is access to marine-grade supplies and an infrastructure that could assist with manufacturing floating solar panels. 

“It’s kind of the perfect storm where if there is some traction with this, and if it does showcase a positive benefit for communities’ water quality metrics and potential energy generation, it could take off pretty quickly,” he said. ∆

TOBIE BLANCHARD: LSU AgCenter