Site Investigation for Floating Solar Panels Using Multi-Criteria Decision-Making

Ground-mounted photovoltaics (PV) have been increasingly used for renewable energy conversion from the solar power recently as a tangible way to achieve governments’ net zero target. However, limitations on land coverage hinders their development, particularly in urban environments. As a solution, Floating PhotoVoltaics (FPV) technology has been developed for lakes and marine waters, which can make a significant contribution to an increase in the rollout of solar panels. In this study, the Welsh coast has been investigated for the suitability of FPV installations, which aims to aid further future devolvement for policymakers and private investors. Several challenges, including favorable metrological conditions, water depth constraints and proximity to existing infrastructure, which need to be addressed before floating solar panels can be widely deployed; These challenges are identified and assessed, using the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method, where site selections can be optimized across the Welsh coast. In total 20 sites are investigated along the Welsh coast. The results demonstrate that FPV technology has the potential to be a valuable part of the green energy mix in Wales, and the sites located in South Wales are considered to have better conditions for the construction of the FPV sites. This study also illustrates the different factors present across the Welsh coast that could impact on the power generation and possible mitigating measures for combating these conditional variables for effective deployment, operation, and decommission of the FPV converters in Wales.