The interest in photovoltaic systems installed on modular connected floating foundations has increased over the recent years due to limited space on land. For these floating installations, knowledge on the interaction dynamics of individual floats and also connected chains of floats and wind-induced water waves is lacking. It is still challenging to estimate the actual (design) forces and possible energy efficiency losses caused by the movement of the floating photovoltaic systems, throughout the stages of the design process. Therefore, in this study, a single float and an interconnected chain of floats of a floating photovoltaic system interacting with different wave conditions are investigated in a physical model study regarding measured forces and motion of the structure. The obtained data is used to compare the individual float behaviour and the non-linear behaviour of a modular, lightweight, interconnected floating structure of multiple floats. High connector forces were observed at the centre of the float chain for float chain length to wavelength ratios of approximately unity. Furthermore, the motion of the float chain revealed similar dependencies on investigated wave parameters as the individual float. However, the change of motion along the individual modules of the float chain was found to be highly non-linear, affecting the energy efficiency along the float chain. Energy efficiency losses were estimated to reach a level of up to nearly 20% and were found to increase in the float chain setup when compared with the single float. Further energy efficiency losses varied along the float chain, with a marginal tendency of decreased energy efficiency toward the centre of the float chain. • Investigation of both single FPV float and float chain of ten interconnected floats. • Float chain forces mainly depend on mass loading, not wave parameters. • Connector peak loads showed wavelength to float chain length dependency. • Energy efficiency was correlated based on pitch motion.
Spröer et al. (Fri,) studied this question.