Offshore solar plants: A design study

Solar power is a significant contributor in renewable energy considering the solar energy potential of Turkey. A vast amount of investment has been made during the last decade on photovoltaic solar plants, with the deployed power having reached 6.2 GW in July 2020 and still growing. A global trend in solar power is the deployment of solar panels on water such as lakes and dam reservoirs with advantages given as reduction of land use, reduction of evaporation and provision of cooling for the solar panels. Some applications have been established globally, and a typical example has been deployed in Buyukcekmece Lake, Istanbul, Turkey. This study, differing from the actual works, aims to design an offshore deployment, which may be useful for the southern shores of Turkey and competitive with the proposed offshore wind farms in terms of cost and renewable energy production. For this purpose, seven locations along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts of Turkey have been selected. The study presents the evaluated outputs for solar power production and compares them with the offshore wind alternative for the proposed study locations. A simple cost estimation for a fixed offshore photovoltaic power plant has also been worked out. It has been found out that offshore photovoltaic energy may be competitive with wind energy and even more feasible for some sites with a low wind energy potential, which may be the sole feasible solution regarding site-based potential of various renewable energy forms.