Hydropower & other renewables |
A bright future ahead
Inspired by Norway’s maritime heritage, Ocean Sun has developed a patented solution for a floating power system with solar panels mounted on a thin hydro elastic membrane
Above: The first Ocean Sun floater at Vestfjorden, Osteroy. Operator from BKK (Bergen Kommunale Kraftselskap). May 2017
Below left: Ocean Sun 100kWp at OS, West coast Norway. Leroy fish farm microgrid. 2018
Below right: Ocean Sun’s 250kWp at Magat Dam, Philippines 2019. It is still in operation and designed to withstand typhoon category 4. Photo by Børge Bjørneklett
OCEAN SUN IS A small technology company founded in 2016 in Norway, a country known for its hydropower traditions, maritime and offshore technology, but also mineral extraction and utilisation. This special mix of industries originates from the mountainous topology, deep and sheltered fjords and harsh offshore conditions in the North Sea. These features have been exploited for over a century to provide renewable hydropower to supply advanced metallurgical industries. More recently Norwegian engineers have directed their efforts towards decarbonisation of silicon oxide and silicon wafer production during the first solar PV boom. Around 15 years ago the company REC Solar mastered the entire value chain from quartz to solar grade silicon wafer, PV cells and solar modules, now accepted to be the cheapest renewable energy form in tropical countries. Vessel designs for the Norwegian fishing and maritime industry have gradually adapted to variable conditions in both sheltered fjords and the high sea, exemplified by Viking ships, whalers, polar exploration,
merchant shipping and deep-water operations for gas exploration and lately offshore wind farms. The Ocean Sun technology combines many of these technologies developed by Norwegian engineers to offer hydropower reservoir owners a new way of adding cheap renewable energy through floating solar plants on their reservoir surfaces. The proximity to a hydropower plant means that the intermittency problem of traditional solar plants can be balanced at source within the existing hydropower supply point to the grid, avoiding additional strain on the power system operator who is often struggling to balance variable output from large solar PV plants. No addition or modification to the grid is necessary although small solar plants may need a battery backup of some minutes’ duration to smoothen variations caused by passing cloud cover on the scale of a few minutes, thus avoiding many rapid changes in hydropower output. Ocean Sun’s patented technology relies on standard silicon PV modules sealed and adapted for aquatic conditions resting on a flexible polymer membrane
28 | January 2024 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
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