Wednesday June 25, 2025
Grist —
The newest, hottest power couple doesn’t live in Hollywood. It’s actually the marriage of solar panels and water reservoirs: Known as floating photovoltaics, or floatovoltaics, the devices bob on simple floats, generating power while providing shade that reduces evaporation.
One primary advantage of the technology is that you don’t have to clear trees to make way for solar farms. As an added bonus, the water cools the panels, increasing their efficiency. Research has shown that if societies deployed floatovoltaics in just a fraction of the lakes and reservoirs of the world, they could generate nearly a third of the amount of electricity that the United States uses in a year.
As floatovoltaic systems rapidly proliferate — the market is expected to grow an average of 23 percent each year between 2025 and 2030 — scientists are investigating how the technology might influence ecosystems. The shading, for instance, might stunt the growth of algae that some species eat — but at the same time, it might also prevent the growth of toxic algae. The floats might prevent waterbirds from landing — but also might provide habitat for them to hide from predators. By better understanding these dynamics, scientists say that if companies are willing, they can work with manufacturers to customize floatovoltaics to produce as much electricity as possible while also benefiting wildlife as much as possible.