This enables cost-effective engineering structures to protect offshore floating solar panels.
ANU’s detailed global heat maps highlight that the Indonesian archipelago and equatorial West Africa, particularly near Nigeria, offer the greatest potential for floating equatorial solar panels.
The solar panels can be located on rooftops, in arid regions, integrated with agriculture, or even floating on water bodies.
Fortunately, these countries can tap into effectively unlimited energy from solar panels positioned on calm equatorial seas.
The study revealed that floating solar panels can be deployed in such regions without the need for costly and robust engineering defenses.
Offshore solar panels have certain drawbacks compared to onshore panels, such as susceptibility to salt corrosion and marine fouling.
However, despite these challenges, ANU believes that offshore floating panels will play a major role in the energy mix of countries with access to calm equatorial seas. »