US Federal Reservoirs Have Enormous Potential for Solar Energy Development
American scientists have conducted the first large-scale study of the potential for floating solar power plants on federal reservoirs in the United States. The results of the study showed impressive possibilities for this approach to obtaining environmentally friendly energy.
Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have calculated that placing solar panels on the surface of reservoirs could generate up to 1,476 terawatt-hours of energy—enough to power about 100 million homes a year.
“We understand that it is impossible to use all this potential, but even 10% of the estimated volume will be a significant contribution to the country’s energy sector,” notes Evan Rosenlieb, one of the authors of the study.
Floating solar power plants have a number of significant advantages: they do not take up valuable land, create shade over bodies of water, reducing water evaporation, and can be effectively combined with hydroelectric power plants. At the same time, in the United States there is not a single similar project with a capacity of more than 10 megawatts.
For the first time, the researchers took into account all the necessary conditions for the placement of such power plants: the depth of the reservoirs, the steepness of the bottom, the temperature regime and shipping activity. Particular attention was paid to the reservoirs of hydroelectric power plants, where a combination of solar and hydroelectric power can provide a more stable energy supply.
In the future, scientists plan to assess the proximity of potential sites to power lines, calculate the economic efficiency of projects and study their impact on the environment. They also plan to expand the study to small reservoirs, estuaries and marine areas.
For the convenience of developers, all data on each reservoir is available on the specialized AquaPV portal.
https://www.ixbt.com/news/2025/01/17/plavuchie-solnechnye-jelektrostancii-smogut-obespechit-jenergiej-100-millionov-domov-ssha.html
