A Comparative Analysis of FSPV-Grid and Grid-only systems for an Industrial Subsection

Advancements in solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have improved competitiveness in power generating system. Fast depletion of fossil fuels with increased demand in electricity together with environmental concerns globally route towards generating options from renewable sources of energy such as solar PV on large scale. Among all other renewable options available globally, solar generating system are most feasible and compatible to the existing conventional generating system. However, the installation of ground mounted PV on large scale results in significant land acquisition which results in additional cost to system installation along with deforestation. The availability of large land area near a city is another issue for megawatt size plants. The issues of land availability and deforestation cab be dealt with by installation of floating solar photovoltaic (FSPV) systems. India has nearly 18000km² of water reservoirs which has the potential to generate about 280GW power through FSPV system. Deployed on water bodies, these are rapidly developing technology and it would be a promising option to ground mounted PV systems. As compared to ground mounted PV systems, FSPV can generate energy with higher gain. FSPV system controls the overall evaporation loss from water bodies which is beneficial in maintaining the ambient temperature and thus reducing the overheating of panels. The benefits of FSPV system is attracting the interest of energy engineers and thus a number of commercial projects have been implemented globally .In this article, a comparative analysis has been presented for FSPV-Grid system and Grid-only system for various parameters such as net present cost (NPC), Levelized cost of energy (LCOE), pollutant emissions and grid flexibility for energy being purchased and sold.