The Dutch made solar panels that float on water and track the movement of the sun
The market for floating solar panels is expected to surge by 43% year on year over the next decade
One of the latest news to shake up the sustainable energy community comes from the Netherlands. As the pioneer in all-things-green, the Dutch have recently dotted their lakes with small islands consisting of floating solar panels. While this news isn’t particularly new, the innovative aspect lies in the fact that these panels meticulously track and follow the Sun as it moves across the sky, to catch as many rays as possible.
The device is called Proteus and it has been developed by SolarisFloat, a Portuguese company. The island, floating in the south-west Netherlands, is covered in 180 of these moving solar panels, with a total installed capacity of 73 kilowatt of peak power (kWp).
However, it seems that the Dutch aren’t the only ones following the trend. Floating solar panels have recently made quite the appearance. From Brazil to Japan, the use of light-weight, floating panels has increased exponentially. According to the latest data, energy collected by these stations has increased from 70 MWp in 2015 to 1,300 MWp in 2020.
It looks like a useful venture not only for potential consumers of the technology, but also potential producers. It is estimated that the market for floating solar panels will grow by 43% a year over the next decade, reaching $24.5bn (£21.7bn) by 2031.
However, it is not sufficient. According to the International Energy Agency, solar energy capacity has to increase six-fold until 2030 in order to stay in line with the aspiration of net zero emissions.
