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Floating PV Expands Renewable Energy Generation Options

In 2014, the installed capacity of floating solar was only 10 MW, and in 2020, it has grown 100 times to more than 1.1 GW. Floating solar gives industry stakeholders a new option that leaves valuable land available for other applications. But, installing PV on bodies of water is easier said than done; sophisticated technology is required for the success of these projects. GreenPowerMonitor, a DNV GL company and a leader in solutions for floating solar plants, has partnered with Moxa to develop an integrated solution to efficiently operate and maintain floating solar PV farms.

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Summary

Challenges

  • Maintenance personnel may have to take boats to the floating structures or islands that are typically far away from the land
  • Unpredictable and unstable environmental conditions, such as high winds, limit the maintenance tasks that can be carried out
  • Harsh environments lead to faster equipment degradation, making operations more challenging

Solutions

  • GPM SCADA platform with an integrated ticketing workflow allows to activate, notify, and assign alerts
  • Moxa industrial fanless computer used as the data logger in harsh environments
  • Moxa managed Ethernet switches with self-healing redundancy technology ensure reliable connectivity to transmit data from power devices to the SCADA platform

Results

  • Monitor and control the floating solar plant in real time
  • Leverage machine-learning algorithms to perform predictive maintenance on power devices