Floating photovoltaic (FPV) technology is gaining prominence as a means to alleviate land use conflicts while obtaining large solar PV deployments and simultaneously reducing evaporated water loss. In this study, an open source after-market distributed manufacturing method is proposed to be applied to large flexible PV modules to make flexible FPV systems. Specifically this study considers surface floating of flexible thin film solar PV using three types of closed-cell foams: i) neoprene, ii) mincell and iii) polyethylene. The fabricated FPV underwent indoor and outdoor tests for flotation, wave resistance, temperature and resistance to algae accumulation. The average operational temperature was reduced by 10–20 °C for the FPV compared to land-based mounting indicating substantial increases in electricity output compared to ground-based deployment of any type of PV (2–4% for amorphous silicon used here and 5–10% for crystalline silicon based PV). In addition, foam-based FPV racking were also found to reduce costs of racking to $0.37–0.61/W, which is significantly lower than raft-based FPV as well as conventional land-based racking. The results of this preliminary study indicate that foam-backed FPV is exceptionally promising and should be further investigated with different foams, larger systems and more diverse deployments for longer periods to increase PV deployments.

浮动光伏（FPV）技术作为减轻土地使用冲突的一种手段而受到关注，同时又获得了较大的太阳能PV部署，同时减少了蒸发水的损失。在这项研究中，提出了一种开源的售后分布式制造方法，该方法将应用于大型柔性光伏组件，以制造柔性FPV系统。具体而言，本研究考虑了使用三种类型的闭孔泡沫的柔性薄膜太阳能PV的表面漂浮：i）氯丁橡胶，ii）mincell和iii）聚乙烯。所制造的FPV进行了室内和室外浮选，抗波性，温度和抗藻类积累的测试。与陆上安装相比，FPV的平均工作温度降低了10–20°C，这表明与任何类型的PV的陆基部署相比，电力输出显着增加（此处使用的非晶硅为2-4％，而5 –10％（对于基于晶体硅的PV）。此外，还发现基于泡沫的FPV货架可将货架成本降低至0.37-0.61 / W，这大大低于基于筏的FPV和传统的陆上货架。这项初步研究的结果表明，泡沫支撑的FPV具有极好的前景，应在更长的时间内用不同的泡沫，更大的系统和更多样化的部署进行进一步研究，以增加PV的部署。还发现基于泡沫的FPV货架可将货架成本降低至0.37-0.61 / W，这大大低于基于筏的FPV和传统的陆上货架。这项初步研究的结果表明，泡沫支撑的FPV具有极好的前景，应在更长的时间内用不同的泡沫，更大的系统和更多样化的部署进行进一步研究，以增加PV的部署。还发现基于泡沫的FPV货架可将货架成本降低至0.37-0.61 / W，这大大低于基于筏的FPV和传统的陆上货架。这项初步研究的结果表明，泡沫支撑的FPV具有极好的前景，应在更长的时间内用不同的泡沫，更大的系统和更多样化的部署进行进一步研究，以增加PV的部署。