European solar energy company Lightsource is reportedly funding and working on a next-generation floating solar farm that will be the largest Europe has ever constructed.
Teams are already working on building the structure, which will have more than 23,000 individual solar panels on it and will cover about 57,500 square meters of area. This is just a bit larger than the previous largest floating solar farm in Europe, which measured in at 45,500 square meters.
Electricity generated from the floating solar farm, which will be floating on top of a number of pontoons in the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir, will be used to help power water treatment plants near the coast.
The power being generated will have enough kick to power at least 1,800 homes.
Granted, the project isn’t as large as the one Japanese company Kyocera is working on, which will be the largest floating solar farm in the entire world at 180,000 square meters and the power to light up 5,000 homes, Lightsource’s project is still the largest floating solar farm project ever tackled in Europe itself.
The move to solar power is a great choice for a greener world, although harnessing solar power for energy is still very much an emerging market. Burning of fossil fuels still makes up a majority of the world’s energy consumption and continues to worsen climate conditions across the globe.
Floating solar farms make use of valuable area that would otherwise remain unused because of the lack of steady ground. Since we don’t landscape the surface of our oceans, lakes, and reservoirs, they’re a great place to start with building this kind of technology until it progresses.
Source: The Guardian
