Ciel & Terre has launched a new floating PV structure that it said had been designed with the increasingly large scale of floating solar projects in mind.
The French floating PV specialist said its new ‘Fusio’ system had been developed in response to the evolving needs of the growing floating solar market, which prioritises robustness, efficiency and scalability.
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Ciel & Terre said the system features a “honeycomb” design that enhances mechanical strength and stability by distributing loads evenly across the structure.
“The triangular shape of the Fusio structure draws inspiration from major principles of engineering and architecture (bridges, pyramids, or skyscrapers). It is the most stable and resilient geometric form to withstand external forces,” a company statement on the launch said.
As well as its robustness, C&T said Fusio offered numerous economic benefits, such as low LCOE, reduced transport and logistics costs due to its compact design, and a rapid production process to reduce project lead times.
Additionally, by elevating modules above the water surface and enabling air to flow beneath, C&T said Fusio’s design allowed for enhanced cooling, boosting module performance by a claimed 2% in warm environments.
“Altogether, these benefits make Fusio a highly competitive solution, designed to support and deliver projects ranging from huddreds of MW up to GW scale,” the company said.
Ciel & Terre said the Fusio system supports all standard module sizes up to 800W, in the M10 and G12 formats, as well as those using rectangular cells. Tilt angles can be set at either 5 or 12 degrees.
With system maintenance in mind, Ciel & Terre said it had also designed a dedicated maintenance vehicle for Fusio projects: a catamaran designed to “slide” across the PV modules.
Ciel & Terre said the Fusio system was particularly well-suited to India or Southeast Asia, where environmental and economic conditions particularly favour the deployment of floating PV.
The company already has a 4.3MW project in India running using the Fusio system, and has a further 20MW in its pipeline.
