Combining Hydrodynamic Modelling and Solar Potential Assessment to Evaluate the Effects of FPV Systems on Mihăilești Reservoir, Romania

Floating photovoltaic (FPV) systems are a new green technology emerging lately, having the indisputable advantage of not covering agricultural land but instead the surface of lakes or reservoirs. Being a new technology, even though the number of studies is significant, reliable results remain limited. This paper presents the possible influence of an FPV farm installed on the surface of a reservoir in Romania in four scenarios of the surface being covered with photovoltaic panels. The changes in the water mass under the FPV panels were determined using mathematical modelling as a tool. For this purpose, a water quality model was implemented for Mihăilești Reservoir, Romania, and the variations in the temperature, the phytoplankton biomass, and the total phosphorus and nitrogen were computed. Also, by installing FPV panels, it was estimated that a volume of water of between 1.75 and 7.43 million m3/year can be saved, and the greenhouse gas emission reduction associated with the proposed solutions will vary between 15,415 and 66,066 tCO2e/year; these results are in agreement with those reported in other scientifical studies. The overall conclusion is that the effect of an FPV farm on the reservoir’s surface is beneficial for the water quality in the reservoir.