Using floating solar panels on the water surfaces of hydroelectric dams.

A proposal for government, exceptional!!

Combining photovoltaic energy production with hydroelectric energy production, placing solar panels on floating structures on water surfaces, is currently a strategic and forceful hybrid proposal that governments should consider.

Floating solar energy is a global trend that has been advancing with great success.

Significantly, while floating solar plants can be installed on any freshwater surface, building them on the reservoirs of hydroelectric dams helps to utilize existing transmission infrastructure and reduce construction costs.

In this renewable energy mode, the panels are mounted on floating platforms anchored to the shore or the water bed. Although 70% of the earth's surface is covered by bodies of water, existing technology cannot take advantage of the enormous opportunities offered by the oceans. High turbulence presents a challenge as it is detrimental to panel stability, although the industry is exploring ways to overcome the problem. Also, since corrosion of solar structures can be harmful to marine ecology, researchers are trying to make the technology greener. Higher initial investment costs ($0.92 to $2.9 per watt depending on location and technology requirements) pose another challenge. Due to the use of special components such as floats/pontoons, mooring systems and submerged water cables, among others.

But on the surfaces of reservoirs or dams, it is an advantage, due to the very stability of its water mirrors.

Floating solar projects produce 3-5% more energy compared to land-based assets of a similar size, due to the cooling effect of the water surface on the panels. They can also help in water conservation by slowing down the rate of evaporation from water surfaces. As recent research shows, more water evaporates from reservoirs than is consumed by humans.

It is an exceptional hybrid proposal, because during the day the photovoltaic system compensates an important part of the energy demand to the reservoir or hydroelectric dams and at night the dam covers the other demand.

Another consideration, no less important: the security of these facilities. On land, extensive hectares of solar panels are not easy to monitor continuously, unlike placing these plants on the water surfaces of reservoirs, there security is linked to the security of the reservoir or dam.

Lubio Lenin Cardozo, Venezuelan engineer and environmentalist