Quality assurance company DNV has awarded Sungrow FPV a statement of conformity for its anchoring and mooring design methodology for floating solar systems.
The verification means Sungrow FPV, a subsidiary of Chinese inverter manufacturer Sungrow, is the first company to receive a statement of conformity according to DNV’s floating solar recommended practice, published earlier this year.
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As well as verifying the design and safety of Sungrow’s FPV anchoring and mooring methodology, DNV said the statement of conformity means the technology “is considered adequate to be implemented in [the] design of future FPV projects”.
While global installed floating solar capacity is now estimated to be above 3GWp, anchoring and mooring failures have proven to be a major risk for installations, according to DNV, which said it is important to ensure the proper design of these components to avoid more accidents and a detrimental effect on the progress of the floating PV segment.
A collaborative project involving 24 industry players, DNV’s recommended practice offers guidance for accelerating the development of floating PV while offering insight on how the policymakers can support the technology. Five topics are covered in the guide: site conditions assessment, energy yield forecast, mooring and anchoring systems, floating structures, permitting and environmental impact.
“The floating solar market is growing quickly and expanding from Asia, which still retains the highest market share, to Europe and other areas of the world. To enable the growth of this exciting renewable technology, DNV is pleased to provide assurance of this methodology utilised by our customers on their projects,” said Prajeev Rasiah, executive vice president for energy systems, Northern Europe, at DNV.
According to DNV, the recommended practice is the first step towards full standardisation for the floating solar sector, a topic covered at this week’s Intersolar Europe event in Germany.
Having provided its floating solutions to a recently completed floating PV plant in Thailand, Sungrow has now supplied a total of 1.4GW of floating systems.