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ENFloating photovoltaic systems introduce operating conditions that differ fundamentally from land-based PV installations. Deployed on water bodies such as reservoirs, lakes, or sheltered offshore environments, floating PV plants are exposed to specific thermal, environmental, and mechanical effects that directly affect performance, degradation, and uncertainty. These characteristics make floating PV less a problem of geometric optimisation and more a question of robust technical assessment under evolving conditions.
LuciSun provides technical advisory and modelling services for floating PV projects, supporting feasibility studies, comparative assessments, and risk-aware energy yield evaluations. These studies focus on the specific physical mechanisms that drive uncertainty in floating PV systems, using LuSim and complementary modelling approaches where appropriate.
One of the key differentiators of floating PV is the thermal environment of the PV modules. Proximity to water can modify module temperature profiles through enhanced convective cooling, evaporation effects, and higher ambient humidity. These effects can lead to temperature losses that differ from standard ground-mounted assumptions and may vary spatially and seasonally across a floating plant.
LuciSun’s advisory studies account for these effects by adapting temperature and thermal loss assumptions to floating PV conditions, allowing performance estimates to reflect site-specific environmental characteristics rather than generic coefficients.
Floating PV systems are exposed to environmental conditions that can significantly influence soiling and long-term degradation. High humidity, proximity to water, biological activity, bird presence, and, in offshore or coastal contexts, saline environments can all affect module surfaces, electrical components, and support structures.
Rather than assuming standard degradation and soiling rates, LuciSun’s assessments explicitly consider these exposure mechanisms and their potential impact on performance and uncertainty over the project lifetime.
Floating structures are subject to small but persistent movements due to wind, waves, water level variations, and anchoring constraints. These movements can introduce slight misalignments between PV rows or arrays, leading to orientation losses and increased electrical mismatch that are rarely captured in conventional PV models.
LuciSun evaluates these effects qualitatively and quantitatively where data allow, supporting conservative but realistic assumptions in energy yield and uncertainty assessments.
Water surfaces exhibit highly anisotropic reflectance that varies with sun position, surface roughness, and wave conditions. While reflected irradiance can contribute to module performance, particularly for bifacial PV configurations, its magnitude and spatial distribution are highly site-dependent and uncertain.
LuSim can be used to explore reflected irradiance effects in simplified or comparative scenarios, including the influence of floater position, colour, and arrangement. These analyses are used primarily to frame potential upside and associated uncertainty, rather than to claim precise bifacial gains.
Given the current state of floating PV technologies, the primary value of modelling lies in structuring uncertainty rather than maximising nominal performance. LuciSun’s technical advisory services aim to identify the dominant risk drivers, compare design hypotheses, and support informed decision-making under incomplete information.
By combining targeted modelling with engineering judgement and experience from real projects and research activities, LuciSun supports floating PV developers and investors in assessing feasibility, robustness, and bankability without overextending modelling assumptions beyond their valid range.
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