Offshore solar farms could better withstand waves if their floating supports are matched to local sea conditions, according to a study in the Journal of Energy Infrastructure . Simulations show that flat-bottomed barge floats offer stronger protection in shorter waves, while twin-hull catamaran floats can reduce loads on anchoring lines in longer waves. A mixed layout did not consistently outperform either design.
“Floating solar can expand renewable energy capacity without occupying land,” says the study’s corresponding author Luofeng Huang. “Moving it from sheltered lakes and reservoirs to the sea, however, exposes interconnected platforms to waves that can amplify movement and strain the cables holding them together and in place.”
The team of researchers at Cranfield University in the UK, and Inha University, in South Korea, compared three layouts, each containing nine connected floats in a three-by-three grid: all barges, all catamarans, and a front row of barges followed by two rows of catamarans. “We used detailed computer simulations to track vertical movement, tilting and mooring forces under regular, repeating waves of different lengths,” shares Huang. “The numerical framework had previously been checked against wave-tank experiments on individual floats.”
In shorter waves, the broad, continuous bottoms of barge floats blocked and dissipated wave energy, sheltering the rows behind them. “Catamaran floats allowed more water through the gap between their hulls, producing more similar movements across the array but less protection downstream,” explains first author Binjian Ou. “In longer waves, catamaran arrays showed peak mooring loads lower than barge arrays.”
Notably, the mixed layout was intended to combine the barges' shielding with the catamarans' motion stability. Its limited gains suggest that simply combining two useful designs does not guarantee that their movements and wakes will work well together.
“The best float design depends on the waves at the site,” says Ou. “We need to consider how the whole array moves and shares loads, rather than choosing each float in isolation.”
The findings could guide float selection, array layout and anchoring design. “The results apply to the tested small arrays and regular waves; future work should examine larger arrays, irregular seas and long-term fatigue, while jointly optimising float shapes, spacing, connections and moorings,” Ou adds.
Contact the author: Luofeng Huang, Reader, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cranfield University, Cranfield, MK43 0AL, United Kingdom. Email: luofeng.huang@cranfield.ac.uk
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Computational simulation/modeling
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Wave-structure interaction of offshore floating solar array: Uniform and hybrid floaters.
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.