Canopy Power and FSC plan more than 50 MW of floating solar across Australia on Ocean Sun technology

The partners are not chasing utility scale solar farms. Their market is commercial and industrial users who already own water: water utilities with ponds and reservoirs, farms with dams and small lakes, and mining and data centre sites.

The technology

• Membrane: modified silicon solar modules on a circular, 1 mm thick floating membrane, 70 metres across
• Size: about 700 kWp per ring, with rings combined for larger sites
• Cooling: the panels sit in direct thermal contact with the water, with Ocean Sun claiming up to 10% more yield than ground mounted or pontoon floating solar
• Strength: certified for winds up to 275 km/h
• Water benefits: up to 50% less evaporation, less algae growth and rainwater harvesting of about 2 million litres a year at a typical site

Why it matters for ports and vessels

The partnership also plans to bring floating charging stations to Australian waters for electric ferries, workboats and other electric vessels. That is where floating solar meets maritime electrification. Harbours, marinas and ferry terminals often have more water than land, and a grid connection that cannot easily take extra load. A floating array with batteries can generate power on site and charge vessels at the berth, cutting both diesel use and the need for costly grid upgrades.

Ocean Sun already runs floating arrays at sea, including at the Soneva Secret resort in the Maldives, shown above, so the step from reservoirs to sheltered harbour waters is a short one. For island ports and remote terminals in particular, local solar on the water could be the fastest route to charging electric ferries and workboats.

More on electric vessels and vessel charging is in Electric ferries and vessel charging.

Fifty megawatts on the water, built ring by ring, with the first ones in 2027.