World’s First Automatic Wave Model Developed in Partnership with NGI
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July 8, 2021
We hope that this new wave modelling technology will accelerate the adoption of floating solar projects around the globe.
Glint is proud to share the news that we, in partnership with the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), have developed the world’s first automatic wave model for inland water bodies. This exciting new technology will drastically reduce both time and costs when analyzing potential sites for floating solar installations. Properly understanding the individual site’s wave conditions is crucial to understand both which locations on a water body are most suitable from a wave perspective and how to assess extreme weather events like the 50-year wave.
A Win For Floating Solar Development
As land-based solar developers are increasingly looking to lakes and reservoirs to build floating solar projects, there is a need to understand the site’s environmental characteristics. The goal is to find the best suited places to install this technology and ensure a safe environment during development.
Waves are an essential parameter when evaluating a site for floating solar development. The new wave model automatically calculates wave heights for potential floating solar sites. The methodology includes the geometry of the lake and 40 years of data on wind conditions, among other parameters. Although the technology is very new, we’ve already successfully utilized the model with several customers around the world, including a project for the World Bank in South East Asia.
Glint and NGI Form an Innovative Partnership
For decades, our partners at NGI have been committed to their mission of advancing geotechnical research and technology development. In recent years, NGI has emphasized strategic investment around capacity on storm surges and wind waves. The algorithms developed by the organization aligned well with our satellite and machine learning based models. This partnership provided the perfect opportunity to combine our organizations’ expertise to achieve advancements in the exciting field of floating solar.
Thanks in part to funding from the Oslo Regional Research Fund (RRF), Glint and NGI were able to work on this exciting qualification project to see if it was possible to find scalable solutions for floating solar developments. After this success, we look forward to working with NGI in further capacity in the future.
An Exciting Step Towards Floating Solar Growth
We strongly believe the world needs to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy in order to mitigate climate change. Floating solar is an advantageous form of solar energy because it utilizes available artificial lakes and reservoirs and allows for the installation of solar without land conflict. Many countries don’t have available land for solar energy projects due to agriculture, protected nature or high population, therefore floating solar is a tenable solution for these regions. FPV offers “win-win” advantages: in certain regions floating solar installations have been shown to reduce a lake’s water evaporation and algae growth, meanwhile the water often provides additional cooling for the solar panels, increasing the energy yield by several percentage points compared to land-based solar.
We hope that this new wave modelling technology will accelerate the adoption of floating solar sites around the globe. We’re proud to be the only company in the world to offer an automatic process for finding and analysing different locations to install floating solar energy, and we look forward to growing FPV installations in the future.
Curious to know more about our wave model? Get in touch with us.
Alexis Clemons