The offshore environment represents a vast source of renewable energy, and marine renewable energy plants have the potential to contribute to the future energy mix significantly. Floating solar technology emerged nearly a decade ago, driven mainly by the lack of available land, loss of efficiency at high operating cell temperature, energy security and decarbonisation targets. The vast majority of the available technology and projects in operation are located in inland freshwater bodies. Currently there is momentum in the sector to develop floating solar systems to be deployed in marine environments. Experience from inland floating solar projects could open up possibilities to scale up and move to nearshore or even offshore conditions. Hence, it is relevant to explore the technical feasibility and challenges of designing floating photovoltaics (FPV) in marine environments, with a natural transition of FPV applications first to nearshore locations and then further exposed offshore environments. This research study provides a literature review of the potential of marine applications of floating solar plants, exploring the current available technologies, the technical challenges and the risks in designing and building these projects in the marine environment.

中文翻译：

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海上浮动式太阳能发电厂：潜力，挑战和可行性概述

离岸环境代表了可再生能源的巨大来源，海洋可再生能源工厂具有极大地促进未来能源结构的潜力。浮动太阳能技术在将近十年前出现，主要是由于缺乏可用土地，电池工作温度较高时效率下降，能源安全和脱碳目标的驱动。运营中的绝大多数可用技术和项目都位于内陆淡水河体。当前，该部门正在大力发展可在海洋环境中部署的浮动太阳能系统。内陆浮动太阳能项目的经验可以为扩大规模并转移到近岸甚至近海条件提供可能性。因此，探索在海洋环境中设计浮动光伏（FPV）的技术可行性和挑战，首先将FPV应用自然过渡到近岸位置，然后再将其暴露在近海环境中。这项研究提供了有关浮式太阳能发电厂在海上应用的潜力的文献综述，探讨了当前可用的技术，技术挑战以及在海洋环境中设计和建造这些项目的风险。