Spotlight: World’s largest off-shore FPV

When completed, this 5 Megawatt floating solar park will be the biggest off-shore FPV installation in the world to date.

Singapore-based offshore renewable energy developer G8 Subsea is now working on completing the largest off-shore floating solar system in the world. Located in the Straits of Johor, this 5MW solar park spans over five football fields in size, and is a great leap forward in technological advancement for off-shore FPV applications. The installation offers several challenges, from the natural 3.5-meter tidal variation and other environmental dynamics to the unforgiving seabed conditions with CD variation between 5 meters and 16 meters over a 100-meter stretch.

G8 Subsea also opted to install floating inverter platforms instead of placing them on land, an innovative solution that we expect to see more of in future designs of floating solar parks, especially in the off-shore segment.

Mohan Panayamadam, Project Manager at G8 Subsea, explains the factors to consider when choosing an optimal mooring solution:

“The design of a mooring system in a shallow water sea for station keeping of a floating solar PV platform requires a careful consideration of factors on engineering and cost accounting. The CAPEX and OPEX of the plant should be kept minimal in order to achieve an early break even (BEP) since the PPAs are signed at very competitive rate between the renewable clean energy field developer and Utility companies.