Google is building a solar power project above fishing ponds in Taiwan, its first in Asia

Google unveiled an ambitious plan eight years ago to build a wind energy project in the Atlantic Ocean running all the way from New York to Virginia. That massive "underwater spine" has been slow to progress, but Google is moving ahead with its first water-based renewable energy project — it is just a little smaller in scale: Solar panels atop a series of fishing ponds in Taiwan. The deal marks Google's entry into the Asian renewable energy market.

Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, recently became the first company to make a purchase under the 2017 Taiwan Electricity Act, which allows non-utility companies to purchase renewable energy. For the 10-megawatt solar array in Tainan City, Taiwan, Google will install poles, with solar panels at the top of them, above fishing ponds.

The idea of building solar projects sited on water — known as floating photovoltaics, or "flotovoltaics" — is becoming more popular.

Last year China built the world's largest floating solar farm on a lake that used to be a coal mine, one of several flooded mine sites in China used for solar projects. It includes 166,000 solar panels and has a capacity of 40 megawatts, which can power 15,000 homes. The World Economic Forum reported that China is expected to add 40 percent of the world's new solar panels by 2020. Japan is the world leader in floating photovoltaic installations, with more than 60 projects built since its first in 2007.

For More: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/google-is-building-a-solar-power-project-above-fishing-ponds-in-taiwan.html

Posted by admin on Feb 26 2019. Filed under Renewable energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry