Spanish Rules For Floating Solar Plants Set A New Benchmark

By Saur News Bureau/ Updated On Mon, Jul 15th, 2024

Last week, the Spanish cabinet passed a regulation regarding the installation of floating solar PV (FPV) on reservoirs in the country.

In a royal decree to notify the regulations, Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) moved ahead with regulations considered a mix of common sense and scientifically conservative to allow for future floating solar plants in the country. These regulations have followed due process including public consultations before being finalised. Key highlights make for interesting reading as they could serve a pointer to Indian regulators as well on the way ahead for floating solar in the country. India, particularly, East India is counting on floating solar to fill significant renewable gaps in many steps, by utilising water bodies in these regions.

The regulations from MITECO have taken two years to be finalised, so let’s look at the key highlights first.

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Limit Area To Be Covered

The most noticeable move is the rule limiting the maximum amount of surface of water a PV project can occupy. Mesotrophic waters, or those considered ‘clear water’, will have a maximum capacity of 5% of the reservoir’s surface; however this increases to 15% for eutrophic waters, those with a high biological presence. This compares to much higher ambitions by regulators and developers for many water bodies in India. This has already been questioned on the grounds of possible damage to underwater ecosystems.

Only Man Made Water Bodies

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The Spanish rules make it clear that Solar PV plants will not be installed in lakes, ponds or other water surfaces that have not been altered or are not considered artificial. Thus, they limit Floating Solar plants very clearly to man made reservoirs and other water bodies, which remain in large enough numbers to make no serious impact on installation plans. Again, the rule deserves consideration in India as well, where natural lakes not only play a vital role in local ecosystems, but are not worth being risked for solar installations. Importantly, after limiting FPVs on man made reservoirs, lower evaporation and lower development of Algae are seen as key benefits of floating solar on these reservoirs, whose primarily role is to store water.

MITECO has also undertaken to also establish tracking policies to study the possible environmental impacts and to better understand how the technology works, even while sounding optimistic that it would be a positive impact overall.

MITECO has also shared a list of 96 possible reservoirs with their total area and potential solar area, establishing a clear roadmap for developers to plan for.