Sungrow FPV sees strong potential for offshore floating solar

• The floating solar-dedicated subsidiary of inverter maker Sungrow expects both offshore areas and storage tanks to be crucial areas for future PV advancements.

Faced with challenges in the form of rust, complicated geology and also wave effects, Sungrow FPV is aiming to make use of its research and development experience when constructing offshore floating PV plants, Hao Wu, supervisor of the firm's R&D centre, told PV Technology at the SNEC PV Power Expo 2021 previously this month.

"It is important to establish solid, highly resistant materials and additionally to develop architectural as well as technological assistance to withstand the effect of the waves," he said, adding that the setup of offshore floating solar plants can help prevent waves from corroding coasts.

In terms of projects created at storage tanks, Hao Wu stated he anticipates programmers to capitalize on the significant amount of water bodies worldwide that appropriate for floating plants, while also combining the innovation with pumped storage space.

Hao Wu included that Sungrow FPV has created floating solar products that have no negative effect on water and that can be released in both low- and high-latitude areas.

Sungrow FPV's released floating solar capability goes beyond 1.1 GW, having dealt with a host of projects in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and its residence market of China, where the company was boosted by a government tender for the installation floating projects in coal mine subsidence locations.

Research released last October by consultancy Fitch Solutions forecasts that expanding financier rate of interest in floating solar will help drive the setup of virtually 10GW of new floating projects by 2025, with markets such as China, South Korea, India, Thailand as well as Vietnam expected to outmatch.