In January, about half of the ice around the floating solar power plant installed at Geumgwang Lake in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province was melted. yunhap news
This year, the floating photovoltaic business is in full swing. By installing solar panels on the water inside the dam, it will supply 147.4㎿ of energy when completed. For this purpose, only 1.8㎢ of the panel installation area is installed, which is 60% of Yeouido and 250 soccer fields.
The Ministry of Environment announced on the 18th that by 2023, floating solar power will be installed at eight locations in five dams (Hapcheon Dam, Gunwi Dam, Chungju Dam, Soyanggang Dam, and Imha Dam). This year’s goal is to first install it at three locations: Hapcheon Dam, Chungju Dam, and Gunwi Dam. The total solar power generation of these three places is 45.4 MW.
Water solar is an eco-friendly power generation facility that installs solar modules on the water surface such as dams and reservoirs. It is an active project in China, where large rivers penetrate the continent. Since it is installed on the water, the structure is simple, and it can be installed without separate civil works or forest damage, and the lower the temperature, the higher the power generation efficiency than on the ground due to the characteristics of the solar module device, which is more efficient.
On the other hand, there is also an objection that it increases environmental pollution. It is argued that lead or fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) materials used in floating solar structures can contribute to water pollution. The Ministry of Environment said, “As a result of monitoring by the Korea Environmental Policy and Evaluation Institute (KEI) for the Hapcheon Dam, which has already operated a floating photovoltaic facility, there was no adverse effect on water quality and aquatic ecosystem.” In addition, it has announced that it will use a product that meets the hygiene and safety standards for water supply materials, and that it will use a product exclusively for floating solar power made of silver or tin instead of lead. It is trying to dispel any concerns about environmental pollution.
In November 2018, residents of Dowon 1-ri, Toseong-myeon, Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do, hold a rally in Dowon Reservoir to oppose the installation of floating solar power at Dowon Reservoir by Korea Rural Community Corporation. Goseong = Yonhap News
They also dismissed concerns about the occurrence of green algae due to floating sunlight, saying, “It is difficult to generalize.” In the 2018 Royal Journal of the British Society, a study found that floating solar structures obstructed the water surface and caused green algae. An official from the Ministry of Environment said, “The experimental conditions for this paper were to cover most of the water surface (56~75%) with an opaque shade in a 1.5m deep experimental pond.” It is difficult to apply immediately because it is installed only (around 10%),” he refuted.
Starting with this project, the government plans to expand floating solar power to supply a total of 2.1GW of energy to 920,000 households by 2030. In this case, 1.28 million tons of carbon emissions can be reduced.
Song Okjin reporter [email protected]
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