Catching Rays: Floating Solar Panels Tilt To Face The Sun 

How do you make solar energy even more efficient and cost effective? According to Israeli startup XFloat you do it by putting large numbers of photovoltaic panels on water and making them turn to track the sun. 

Photovoltaic technology converts light from the sun into electricity using solar cells. These cells or panels can be placed on the ground, roofs and walls as well as bodies of water.  

Xfloat CEO and veteran tech entrepreneur Ran Alcalay tells NoCamels that photovoltaic (PV) panels are the most cost-efficient means to generate renewable energy, which led the company founders to explore ways of making it an even more efficient source. 

“What we see now is the huge potential of using the surface of water to build energy generation,” he says. 

“The agenda was to go and focus 100 percent on a market that is now called FPV – floating photovoltaic [panels]. It’s a fast growing market; it’s still considered to be a niche, but it’s maybe the fastest growing niche in the photovoltaic market.”

In fact, the FPV market is predicted to grow significantly, increasing by 25% annually over the next few years. 

“PV and floating is the perfect mix,” Alcalay says. 

One of the major issues with expanding the use of PV energy is the availability of space for the panels needed to absorb the light of the sun – making water an extremely viable option. 

Another issue is the limited time in which static panels can absorb the rays of the sun, which is where Xfloat’s technology comes in.  

It is the company’s intelligent water management system that allows the panels to move with the sun. The system works by installing the floating panels on top of buoyancy tanks laid out in a massive grid, which Alcalay calls “a huge floating carpet.” 

Each panel is connected to a tank, and each tank is connected to the system that follows the sun through the sky. This system, with its proprietary algorithms, pumps water in and out of the tanks in order to angle the panels to chase the light.  

“We developed the software and hardware parts together,” Alcalay says. “The whole idea was to have an autonomous system.”  

Data from the FPVs at each plant is collected via the cloud and analyzed to improve the system. 

“From early on, we understood that it’s not only about the mechanical parts, but it’s also about the data that we can generate and learn from,” he explains. 

Each project has site specific issues, he says, so in order to maximize performance, the system at every plant has individual continuous data acquisition and data processing. 

“We can teach the system to optimize itself to its location.” 

The Caesaria-based company was founded in 2017 by naval engineers and people with experience in data processing. “It’s kind of a weird mix,” Alcalay admits. 

Xfloat, he says, was the first company to provide an alternative to the fixed FPVs and is currently producing the biggest fields of the floating panels in the world. 

At the outset, the company examined static FPVs, he explains, by developing “a fully holistic approach” to the structures, and then by focusing on three key aspects to refine the titling panels.  

First, Xfloat looked at performance and how to improve the energy yield through mobile panels. And according to Acalay, the tiling movement that tracks the sun results in 20 percent more yield. 

They then took into consideration the durability of the panels, which Alcalay says should be operational for up to 30 years on the water, which he calls “a harsh environment.” 

And finally, Xfloat looked at how to become more cost effective. 

“It is very evident that in the energy industry as a whole, but specifically this [one], the financial model is the key. So you have to build everything that will support the returns of the developer and investors.” 

The company received funding from “strategic investors” and the Israel Innovation Authority to get off the ground. And in February, Miya, an international leader in integrated water efficiency systems from Spain, acquired a minority stake in the startup as part of its own expansion plans. 

The Xfloat technology is already in operation on two reservoirs in Hof HaCarmel Regional Council in northern Israel, where together they form what Alcalay says is the biggest FPV tracker in the world. 

Now the reservoirs are not only used to irrigate local agriculture in Hof HaCarmel, but have helped the regional council to reach 100 percent green energy usage.  

“Instead of building these very large installations on land, you keep those green fields open and allow them to be used for agriculture,” he says.  

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