The Netherlands has a problem. There’s no space in the country to put a giant solar farm. Land is at a premium in the Low Countries, and so the cost of building large solar farms is much higher than practically anywhere else in the world. So far, this trouble has caused the Netherlands to lag behind other countries when it comes to transitioning to renewable energy.

As a solution, the Netherlands is considering building its solar farms on the surface of the ocean. Reuters is reporting that an offshore seaweed farm will be turned into a floating solar farm over the next three years, paving the way for a solar-powered Dutch future.

The project will begin with a test, a 30 square meter solar farm about nine miles off the coast of the Hague. The farm will be positioned between two existing offshore wind turbines and connected to the same cables, meaning the project won’t require any additional infrastructure.

If the test project is successful—that is, if the panels prove rugged enough, and the electricity generated is cheap enough—the farm will be expanded to its full size of 2,500 square meters. The project backers hope that this full-size solar farm will be finished by 2021.

Offshore solar farms do have several advantages over land-based ones. In addition to the lack of land costs, offshore panels tend to receive more sunlight due to the lack of obstacles, and the water acts as a coolant, increasing efficiency. According to an expert from Utrecht University, these benefits can improve solar panel efficiency by up to 15 percent.

Offshore solar panels have already been pioneered in China, where several such farms have been built on large lakes. But this will be the first floating solar farm built on the open sea, which could pose unique challenges. But if the Dutch can find a way to overcome these challenges and build a cost-effective solar farm offshore, it could allow the Netherlands and many other countries to expand their solar power generation in a cheap and efficient way, without taking up too much space on land.

Source: Reuters

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