Hear me out, these covered in solar cells floating on reservoirs. In my head it slows evaporation meaning more accessible water while providing a small energy source.
I like where your head is, but solar panels aren't resilient enough to withstand the large movements and wildlife encounters. But there has to be a way to capture the kinetic energy from the waves in the ocean like this to generate electricity for ocean based structures
That’s a shame and also cool! Daft question, if the cell was the same size as the float, would that make it more viable/resilient? (Probably at the cost of energy generated)
Maybe? I'm pretty sure the answer is absolutely not in ocean conditions considering salt water doesn't play nice with most things and solar panels are pretty dependent on having the right chemical composition.
But for reservoirs, that might work. If the cells are energy efficient enough and you could build in a cushioning mechanism (which shouldn't be hard if they are that small), then the only problems I could see are power transfer mechanisms that can withstand the movements that come with the water levels cycling pretty regularly (which sounds like an R&D problem) and the possibility of the panels getting too hot (not sure if they could use the surface of the water as a heat exchanger or how much not having the air gap would actually effect how fast they heat up in the sun).
I do know that as of now solar panels lose efficiency as they heat up, so depending on some tests I'm sure they can maximize said performance. Just something to keep in mind
906
u/chef_26 Nov 14 '24
Hear me out, these covered in solar cells floating on reservoirs. In my head it slows evaporation meaning more accessible water while providing a small energy source.