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High-resolution electricity generation model demonstrates suitability of high-altitude floating solar power.

ABSTRACT: This paper develops a meteorological site selection algorithm to quantify the electricity generation potential of floating solar design configurations on alpine water bodies in Switzerland. Using European power market demand patterns, we estimate the technical and economic potential of 82 prospective high-altitude floating solar sites co-located with existing Swiss hydropower. We demonstrate that the amount of solar energy radiating from high-altitude Swiss water bodies could meet total national electricity demand while significantly reducing carbon emissions and addressing seasonal supply/demand deficits. We construct a global map overlaying sites on each continent where high-altitude floating solar could provide low-carbon, land-sparing electricity. Our results present a compelling motivation to develop alpine floating solar installations. However, significant innovations are still needed to couple floating solar with existing hydropower operations or low-cost energy storage. As the industry matures, high-altitude floating solar technology could become a high-value, low-carbon electricity source.

SUBMITTER: Eyring N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9157236 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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High-resolution electricity generation model demonstrates suitability of high-altitude floating solar power.

Eyring Nicholas N Kittner Noah N

iScience 20220513 6

This paper develops a meteorological site selection algorithm to quantify the electricity generation potential of floating solar design configurations on alpine water bodies in Switzerland. Using European power market demand patterns, we estimate the technical and economic potential of 82 prospective high-altitude floating solar sites co-located with existing Swiss hydropower. We demonstrate that the amount of solar energy radiating from high-altitude Swiss water bodies could meet total national ...[more]

PMID: 35663025

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Project description:The inherent intermittency of solar power due to diurnal and seasonal cycles has usually resulted in the need for alternative generation sources thereby increasing system operation costs. However, when solar power is spread over a large geographical area with significant time differences, the intermittency can be significantly reduced and also the electricity market balancing cost. The aim of this article is to address the fundamental scientific question on how the intermittency of solar power generation is affected by aggregation, which is of great interest in the wider power and energy community and would have profound impacts on the solar energy integration into the energy supply and Net-Zero Implementation. This article goes beyond the typical regional analysis by investigating solar power intermittency at 5 aggregation levels from a global perspective based on global 7 year hourly meteorological re-analysis data with a fine spatial resolution of [Formula: see text]. In the proposed assessment framework, a coefficient of variation (CV) is used to quantify solar power intermittency and hence characterize the potential benefits of wide area solar power aggregation. A duration curve is used to characterize the intermittency in terms of power availability and a probability density function is further employed to investigate the dispersion and scaling behavior of CV at different aggregation levels. The findings indicate that the CV of solar power generation of 'Inner Mongolia' in China drops from 129.65 to 105.65% in the level of 'Asia' (by 24% decrease), to 56.11% in 'Asia-North_America' (by 73.54% decrease) and to the smallest 43.50% in 'Global' (by 86.15% decrease), nearly 3.5 times of that in 'Asia'; (b) the availability of solar power generation increases from 52.17% in Germany, to 73.30% in 'Europe_EU_plus', to 77.82% in 'Europe', to 98.59% in 'Europe-North_America' (80.60% in 'Europe-Africa', 96.90% in 'Europe-Asia'), to 100% in 'Global'. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are provided to support a Net-Zero strategy.

Dataset Information

High-resolution electricity generation model demonstrates suitability of high-altitude floating solar power.

Publications

High-resolution electricity generation model demonstrates suitability of high-altitude floating solar power.

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