World's largest floating solar farm to open near by London

Subscribe to see more. Solar-powered photovoltaic (PV) panels convert the sun's rays into electricity by exciting electrons in silicon cells using the photons of light from the sun. This electricity can then be used to supply renewable energy to your home or business. Solar power remains, after hydro and wind, the third most important renewable energy source in terms of globally installed capacity. In 2012, more than 100 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) power was installed in the world — an amount capable of producing at least 110 TWh of electricity every year. Solar energy exists in abundance all over the globe, but not every place would be suitable for solar PV panels, solar thermal collectors or other means of converting sunlight into useful energy. Europe's largest floating solar farm to open near Heathrow. Why to put solar panels on water? According to Berry, is that the water is there, and might as well be used for this purpose. Floating panels, covering only about 6% of the reservoir, will have no impact on the ecosystem, he says. Though waterbirds, including moorhens and gulls, live on the margins, and a thin scum of litter is visible at the shore, the reservoir is not intended as a home to wildlife, and any fish living here are accidental visitors. Eighteen metres deep, it provides water for Londoners in a constantly churning stream. Although most of the population growth in London tends to be towards the east, most of the water still comes from reservoirs to the west of the city. But future projects to make use of water companies’ reservoirs in order to provide solar power might be in doubt, Berry said. Five years in planning and due to be finished in early March, more than 23,000 solar panels ( solar photovoltaic (PV) panels) will be floated on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir near Heathrow and used to generate power for local water treatment plants. The floating pontoon will be 57,500 sq m in size. But few are likely to see the 23,000 solar panels on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir at Walton-on-Thames, which is invisible to all but Heathrow passengers and a few flats in neighbouring estates. “This will be the biggest floating solar farm in the world for a time - others are under construction,” said Angus Berry, energy manager for Thames Water, which owns the site. “We are leading the way, but we hope that others will follow, in the UK and abroad.” Five years in planning and due to be finished in early March, the £6m project will generate enough electricity to power the utility’s local water treatment plants for decades. The energy will help provide clean drinking water to a populace of close to 10 million people in greater London and the south-east of England, a huge and often unrecognised drain on electricity, rather than nearby homes. Putting solar panels on the water for the QEII scheme has not required planning permission, though big arrays of similar panels on land require official sanction. The government has decided to ban farmers who put solar arrays on agricultural land from receiving EU subsidies for the land. The farm, which will be the size of eight football pitches, is expected to generate 5.8 million kilowatt hours of electricity in a year. More than 23,000 solar panels will be floated by developer Lightsource Renewable Energy at the reservoir near Walton-on-Thames, representing 6.3MW of capacity, or enough to generate the equivalent electricity consumption of about 1,800 homes. The reservoir was commissioned in 1962, and remains one of the biggest serving London. Thames Water said that plans for a “super-sewer” under London would not affect the solar power project. The previous largest floating solar farm in Europe was opened in Hyde, Greater Manchester, at Christmas. It measures 45,500 sq m but it and the new farm are both dwarfed by the world's largest. Japanese company Kyocera is building what will be the biggest floating array on Yamakura Dam in Chiba Prefecture, which will measure 180,000 sq m when completed. Germany has by far the highest capacity of solar photovoltaic power (PV) in the world at 32,4 GW (31%) at the end of 2012.[1] Newly connected PV systems worth 7.6 GW were added this year. Germany’s solar panels generated about 23 TWh (terawatt hours) of electricity in 2012, which is impressive, but still only covers 3% of the country’s total electricity consumption. Market analysts believe this number will increase to 25% before 2050. Germany aims for a total capacity of 66 GW by 2030 with an annual growth of 2.5-3.5 GW. Germany is not a country with incredible amounts of solar energy – what they do have is an excellent subsidizing framework, which ensures that solar power can compete on the market. With a well-developed feed-in tariff scheme, small and large-scale solar PV systems can send excess electricity production to the utility grid for profit.