Comparative Study of Effect of Wind and Wave Load on Floating PV: Computational Simulation and Design Method

초록

Interest in renewable energy is rapidly growing around the world. One of the most popular renewable energy sources is solar power, and photovoltaic (PV) systems are the most representative route for generating solar energy. However, with the growing adoption of solar power systems, the demand for land on which to install these systems has increased, which has caused environmental degradation. Recently, floating PV systems have been designed to utilize idle water surface areas of dams, rivers, and oceans. Because floating PV systems will be exposed to harsh environmental stresses, the safety of such systems should be secured before installation. In this study, the structural robustness of a floating PV system was analyzed by conducting numerical simulation to investigate whether the system can withstand harsh environmental stresses, such as wind and wave loads. Additionally, conventional wind and wave load predictions based on the design method and the simulation results were compared. The comparison revealed that the design method overestimated wind and wave loads. The total drag of the PV system was significantly overestimated by the conventional design criteria, which would increase the cost of the mooring system. The simulation offers additional advantages in terms of identifying the robustness of the floating PV system because it considers real-world environmental factors.

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