Prioritizing deployment opportunities for floating photovoltaic systems in the United States

Interest in renewable energy systems is increasing all around the world, mainly because of climate change, increasing population, and the depletion of fossil fuels. Solar power has the highest acceleration among renewable energy systems. However, it is difficult to install solar systems in some countries or locations due to massive land area requirements, even though these areas may have considerable solar radiation. Floating photovoltaics (FPV) appear to offset this problem by installing photovoltaic systems on water reservoirs such as hydroelectric dams, canals, wastewater treatment plants, wineries, irrigation ponds, and other off-shore applications. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), in particular, offer both available area as well as a critical source of electricity consumption; WWTPs account for more than 30 terawatt-hours of electricity consumption each year in the US, representing 25 to 40 percent of the electricity consumption of municipalities. The aim of this study is to identify the most suitable states and WWTPs in the US to deploy FPV systems to help municipalities reach net-zero emissions. Criteria used to assess states’ suitability for FPV are solar radiation, industrial electricity price, seasonal variation of photovoltaic output, percentage of electricity supply from carbon-intensive sources, and the percentage of electricity generated from photovoltaic systems. Two different approaches were used to assess states: binary comparison approach and weighted scoring approach. According to the binary comparison approach, the most appropriate states are New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia, while the weighted scoring approach shows that the most suitable state is California. Additional criteria, including the presence of a stabilization lagoon, a flow rate greater than 1 million gallons per day, and available water area identified through Google Earth, were then applied to specific WWTPs within selected states. According to binary comparison approach, there are 52 suitable WWTPs identified, whereas California has 38 appropriate WWTPs according to weighted scoring approach. The dominance of California in weighted scoring approach underscores the importance of methodological choices, given that California does not even appear as a finalist in the binary comparison approach. This study provides valuable insights for decision-makers, municipalities, and investors by identifying the most suitable states and WWTPs in the US for the deployment of FPV, thereby supporting the pursuit of municipal and national net-zero emission targets.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Ertugrul, Ali Osman

Contributors dc:contributor

• Guest, Jeremy S.

• Floating Photovoltaic Systems
• Wastewater Treatment Plants

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Ali Ertugrul

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129332

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129332