Recently, environmental problems associated with the excessive use of fossil fuel are hot issue throughout the world. As an alternative energy resource, the importance of renewable energy is continuously rising. Especially, growth rate of photovoltaic energy generation is one of the best. In this paper, floating PV generation system made of pultruded fiber reinforced polymeric plastic (PFRP) is discussed. It is well known that PFRP has many advantages such as high corrosion resistance, high specific strength/stiffness, etc. Compared with conventional construction materials. To investigate the structural behavior under flow induced dynamic loading, members and connections of members are tested under cyclic loading. It was found that the structural system is strong enough to resist such a cyclic loading.

Pultruded glass fiber reinforced polymeric plastic (PFRP) and FRP member manufactured by sheet molding compound (SMC) have superior mechanical and physical properties compared with those of conventional structural materials. Since FRP has an excellent corrosion-resistance and high specific strength and stiffness, the FRP material may be highly appreciated for the development of floating-type photovoltaic (PV) power generation system. In this paper, advanced floating PV generation system made of PFRP and SMC is designed. In the design, it includes tracking solar altitude by tilting photovoltaic arrays and tracking solar azimuth by spinning structures. Moreover, the results of the finite element analysis (FEA) are presented to confirm stability of entire structure under the external loads. Additionally, installation procedure and mooring systems in the Hap-Cheon Dam are discussed and the measurement of strain under the actual circumstances is conducted for assuring stability of actually installed structures. Finally, by comparison with allowable stress, appropriate safety of structure is confirmed to operate the system.

In this study, we conduct the economical analysis about the floating tracking PV generation structure manufactured by steel, aluminum, and GFRP (glass fiber reinforced polymeric plastic) structural member. The structural safety of floating PV generation structure has been proved through numerous previous researches. Moreover, the generating efficiency of tracking PV generation system can be more larger than immobile system. In this study, structural analysis using the FEM method has been performed to establish the safety of the floating tracking PV generation structure and commercial viability evaluation has been performed through the cost of materials.

As the Photovoltaic system market increases, various technologies are emerging to improve system operation efficiency. Such additional systems of the power generation system are generally referred to as ‘Balance of System’, for example a panel cooling, a panel cleaning and a panel angle adjusting apparatus. In this paper, we discuss an algorithm to calculate the target temperature of cooling in response to changes in the installation environment conditions of the power generation system so that the efficiency improvement rate target set by the user can be achieved with respect to the control method of the cooling water injection system among various panel cooling apparatuses. In order to calculate the target temperature of cooling, the output enhancement coefficient is calculated experimentally based on the temperature change according to the solar radiation condition of the PV panel, and the required reduction temperature of each irradiation condition is calculated considering the efficiency improvement rate. In addition, the efficiency improvement ratio is calculated considering the installation condition of the general power generation system without a separate control group. The thermal performance coefficient of the PV panel test body for calculating the expected temperature of the PV panel is calculated experimentally. The target temperature of cooling is calculated as the sum of the expected temperature of the PV panel and the required reduction temperature, and the injection system that tracks the target temperature by cooling water injection is constructed and compared with the power generation improvement rate and the user setting efficiency improvement rate.

In this paper, the structural characteristics of the tracking-type floating PV generation system are presented. Moreover, the structural safety of each tracking-type floating PV generation system is estimated from the analytical results obtained by the finite element analyses.