Solar on the water

While Israel struggles to meet renewable energy targets, China launches the world's largest floating solar farm

By Maya Falah, Angle, Science and Environment News Agency

In China The construction of another solar panel farm (also known as photovoltaic cells) was completed very recently. Apparently, this is not a particularly unusual event, especially considering that China is the largest producer of solar energy in the world, but there is something special about this farm: upon its establishment, it was awarded the title of "the largest floating solar farm in the world" - with a production capacity of 40 megawatts (MW) electricity, which will supply the electricity consumption of about 15 thousand households in the nearby city of Huinan.

There is something else that distinguishes the new solar farm - a kind of poetic justice, if you will - that was established on the ruins of coal mines, which constitute a significant part of the Chinese energy market. The area was flooded as a result of heavy rains that fell and the toxic minerals in the coal mines that were exposed and rose to the surface made this water and the entire area virtually worthless.

Sungro company (Sunrow) - an international company for the production and installation of solar systems, decided to turn the problem into an advantage and established a solar farm on top of the area flooded with water at a depth of four to ten meters that will be used as a plant to produce electricity based on solar energy. Since the farm is located on the flooded area, it does not occupy an area that could be used for other things (one of the main arguments usually against the establishment of solar farms), and it even needs less energy than usual to produce electricity in other solar farms - because the cold water on which the panels are placed naturally cools them and makes them unnecessary the need to install and operate an artificial cooling mechanism, which is necessary to maintain the efficiency of electricity production in terrestrial farms.

361 billion dollars for renewable energy

China aims to produce a fifth of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. Considering that the giant country is currently the biggest polluter in the world, it is clear that it still has a long way to go to get there, but it seems to be on the right track: just at the beginning of the month, the country's energy agency stated that it plans to invest 361 BILLION DOLLARS in renewable energy until 2020, when half of the amount will be allocated to solar energy and wind energy projects. This investment will mean that in three years 15 percent of its energy will come from renewable sources.

And what is Israel doing? In 2015 - in the framework Paris Agreement - We committed to produce 17 percent of our energy from renewable sources as early as 2030, and 13 percent as early as 2025. But as of the end of 2016, we stand at About 2.6 percent only - An increase of only about half a percent compared to the date of setting the aforementioned goals about two years ago.

Israel currently relies mainly on two sources of renewable energy: sun and wind. Recently, there was a tough fight around the issue of wind turbines led by the Society for the Protection of Nature, which called Cancel the construction of wind turbine farms that will be built in the heart of the Golan, on the grounds that these could cause serious damage to eagles in Israel - which are already in serious danger of extinction, as well as damage to other species of birds and bats.

But the real potential of Israel blessed by the sun in the renewable energy market is undoubtedly the use of solar energy. Today there are several solar farms and power plants operating in Israel, the largest of which are currently being built inIllusory site, in a project that is expected to provide over 300 megawatts of electricity in total, and later should meet approximately 1.5 percent of the country's electricity needs. In addition, small independent systems for the production of solar energy are scattered throughout the country, connected to the central electricity grid of the Electric Company andAs of May 2016, provide about 900 megawatts of the total electricity in the economy.

1.2 percent only

Solar energy through photovoltaic panels provides as of the end of 2015 only about 1.2 percent global electricity consumption, But The plummeting prices of the panels And the commitments of most of the countries of the world within the framework of the Paris Agreement to reach increasing renewable energy targets in the coming years are expected to significantly increase their presence. Perhaps this is the right time to consider establishing solar farms in Israel as well that will be floated on water reservoirs suitable for this purpose.