Floating blanket of solar panels

Researchers from TU Delft, MARIN, NIOZ and TNO believe that you have to think big if you want to produce hydrogen at sea. They want to build floating structures of thousands of square metres that can gently ride the waves. The structures are covered with solar panels and electrolysers that use the electricity to produce hydrogen. “They will resemble floating blankets,” says Sebastian Schreier of the ship hydromechanics section (3mE). “We could also construct floating ports or even cities on the structures we envisage,” he adds.

The scientists have submitted an NWO research proposal to get funding to carry out their plans, but they hope to have a test version ready to experiment on in a towing tank even before they hear the decision. They address a wide range of questions: What forces are such floating islands exposed to? How can you build structures that are sufficiently supple and strong enough to withstand the waves? How do you attach the components to each other and what materials should you use? How will these structures effect marine life and how susceptible are they to fouling? The test version will hopefully be able to answer many of these questions.