Session: 09-04-02: Floating Solar Energy 2

Paper Number: 126115

126115 - Global Response Performance of Hdpe Based Offshore Floating Solar Farm by Using Beam-Floater Model 

The choice of renewable energy technology depends on its local characteristics. In Southeast Asia region, where the solar zenith angle is relatively constant and land mass area is less than a third of its water mass area, floating solar panels (FPV) / floating photovoltaic is seen as one of the most promising technology to best utilize the untapped solar energy potential. However, there is still huge knowledge gap in terms of how the FPV structures behave in sea environments. This study aims to examine the hydrodynamic behavior of the typical HDPE-based FPV (TFPV) support structure in the ocean based on specific design criteria. HDPE floaters is chosen for its proven implementation in the in-land water body locations, so that direct knowledge transfer to offshore usage is beneficial.

To model the HDPE floaters, a simplified beam-buoy approach where the wave’s diffraction is neglected is adopted in this study. In this approach, the floater is modelled as 6 DOF non-diffracting buoy, connected to each other’s by beam elements to model their elasticity. Furthermore, the PV module is modelled as a more realistic wing component attached to the buoy. The importance of properly modelling the wind drag and lift exerted on PV module cannot be understated, since it governs the environmental loadings in the in-land FPV. Both the addition of beam connector and the application of PV module as wings components are one of several novel approach proposed in this study. To showcase the application of such approach, several case studies is analyzed in this study.

In the case study, hydrodynamic response analysis under regular waves is conducted in the time domain using OrcaFlex, while response analysis under random waves is performed in the frequency domain using MATLAB. The modeled typical FPV structure has a dimension of 36.5 x 35.4 m with mounted PV, walkway floaters, PV floaters, and moorings. The mooring’s nominal diameter is 64 mm nylon with 8-strands while a typical HDPE FPV floater is used.

There are two station-keeping configurations simulated namely the single mooring and the main-to-branches mooring. The single mooring is defined as a mooring’s fairlead that is directly attached to a buoy and the other end is mounted to the anchor point. Whereas, the main-to-branches mooring considers 2-4 fairleads that each branch is attached to a buoy, then these branches are connected to a main mooring that is mounted to the anchor point.

The most effective mooring’s configuration is found to be a main-to-branches mooring: the main mooring connects the anchor point to the branch connection point, while the branch moorings connects the branch connection point to the fairlead. The final result shows the best configuration is the one with 168 m of mooring line and 2 to 4 branches on each main line. As expected, the mooring tension is found to be larger when the environmental loading is perpendicular to the PV’s face area.

Presenting Author: Farid Putra Bakti Institut Teknologi Bandung

Presenting Author Biography: -

Authors:

Frederick Gavin Surjadi Florida Institute of Technology
Farid Putra Bakti Institut Teknologi Bandung
Chungkuk Jin Florida Institute of Technology
Pandu Kristian Prayoga Simamora University of the Basque Country