This initiative is a demonstration project created with the aim of studying the most suitable technical solutions for the installation of solar panels on lakes and reservoirs.
The installation is located close to the southern shore of the Sierra Brava reservoir, located in Zorita (Cáceres). Designed to cover around 12,000 m2, the floating solar plant occupy around 0.08 % of the reservoir’s surface area.
The installation will consist of six adjacent floating systems. Each system will have 600 photovoltaic panels with an estimated total capacity of 1.375-megawatt peak (MWp).
The Sierra Brava floating PV plant will study different solar module technologies and configurations in terms of inclination, placing and orientation -among other parameters- together with a variety of flotation structures.
The latest technology installed in the plant consists of a circular structure formed by a thin hydro-elastic membrane on which double-glazed panels are placed. This new technology makes it possible to take maximum advantage of water cooling and allows walking on them, facilitating system maintenance work.
In addition, this membrane has its own mooring and anchoring system to the bottom, which provides greater flexibility and resistance to strong waves and gusts of wind. This is what allows, in addition to simplifying its mooring system to the bottom in dams and reservoirs, the floating photovoltaic solar energy can make the leap to the sea.
The project include environmental measures such as the installation of signage on the natural resources in the area around the reservoir, the installation of marker buoys to mark out the regulatory navigable areas, and the provision of nesting boxes and floating islands to encourage the nesting of certain bird species.
Environmental monitoring will be an important aspect, particularly on birdlife in the area, with the dual aim of protecting birds and studying their interaction with this kind of installation.
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Location: Zorita y Alcollarín, Cáceres (España)
- Total peak capacity: 1.375 MWp
- Technology: Floating photovoltaic
- Start-up: 2020
- Ownership: ACCIONA
KEY POINTS
- First grid-connected floating photovoltaic solar plant in Spain
- Total capacity: 1.375 MWp
- Clean energy equivalent to consumption of 1.000 households
- It covers 12.000 m2, occupying around 0.08 % os the Sierra Brava reservoir
- 3,000 floatinf photovoltaic modules
- 6 different solar panel technologies and flotation structures
- The project receives funding from the Spanish Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI)