University of Malta’s SolAqua Floating Solar Panels Project nears completion

The University of Malta’s SolAqua Floating Solar Panels Project addresses the issue of scarcity of land in small countries like Malta or large coastal cities where it is difficult to find adequate areas to build large solar farms. The aim of the SolAqua project was precisely to study and test the technical and financial feasibility of floating solar panels.

This €200,000 project is an MCST (Malta Council for Science and Technology) R&I venture led by Prof. Luciano Mule’ Stagno of the Institute for Sustainable Energy at the University of Malta, with Pandia Energy Ltd and General Membrane Ltd as industrial partners.

The final prototypes for the project have now been launched and the project will come to completion this year after having gathered two years of data for the first system launched at sea.

The first prototype was launched at sea in December 2014. Various designs were tested, both through modelling, as well as at sea. One approach is to have floating rafts with PVs on top. The method is to make these as robust and as inexpensive as possible. The other approach is to have small, specially designed PVs that float and that therefore do not require a raft to support them.

While both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages, it is clear that the method of having large floating rafts appears the most viable both economically and technologically.

The method of having small individually anchored floating PVs appears technically viable too, but costs might be higher and therefore it is potentially more practical to have these in smaller clusters where large rafts are not possible or in very shallow waters.

This project has put Malta at the forefront of research in open sea floating solar panels. While there are several floating photovoltaic systems currently around the world, the ones in Malta are possibly the first and only ones in open sea putting Malta in a prominent position in this area of research.

Factors that were studied include sea-worthiness, the effect of their output when salt dries on the panels, cooling and reflection effects and corrosion. Moreover, the project is also performing extensive modelling on the best design and lowest cost for a floating system. Should the results prove promising, funding and partnerships to commercialise the idea will be sought.

The results from the project are being presented at two international conferences: the European Photovoltaic Conference (EU PVSEC) 2016 in Munich and the Offshore Energy and Storage Symposium in Malta.