Eight years back, Google announced a visionary plan to establish an enormous wind energy project extending all over the way from New York to Virginia in the Atlantic Ocean. But the developmental pace of the underwater project has become quite slow. Now, Google is shifting its interest towards a new small-scale renewable energy project to be established in Taiwan, in which solar panels will be integrated over the surface of fishing ponds. Through this project, Google is getting a great opportunity to enter the Asian renewable energy market.
Google has recently become the global leading organization by making a purchase under the 2017 Taiwan Electricity Act, which permits non-utility firms to obtain renewable energy through this currently under construction 10-megawatt solar project in Tainan City. Google will sustain the solar panels at the top of poles to be installed in the fishing ponds.
The initiative of establishing solar projects over the water body—known as flotovoltaics or floating photovoltaics—is getting in trend across the globe.
China has established several flotovoltaic farms on its various flooded mine sites. Currently, the world’s largest solar project located in China has been built last year on one of the flooded coal mine sites, which comprises 166,000 solar panels with a capacity to generate 40 megawatts of power that is sufficient for supplying electricity to 15,000 homes.
According to the statement by the World Economic Forum, China is persuading renewable energy production by expecting to integrate the world’s 40% of new solar panels till the Year 2020. However, Japan is in the leading position in terms of flotovoltaic installations. More than 60 projects are already being established in the past 12 Years.
For the Taiwan-based Electricity project establishment, Google has collaborated with New Green Power, Taiyen Green Energy, Diode Ventures, and J&V Energy. The project construction is expected to be finished in 2020.