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• Roof Top Floating PV test bench for the hot climatic condition. • Floating PV systems reduced water evaporation by 17% and 28%. • Lowering the front temperature of FPV modules by 2–4%. • The optimal tilt angle of FPV necessary for maximum power. Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) is a relatively new concept for producing clean green energy. This study presents the results of an experimental investigation of a small-scale FPV system. The goal is to evaluate and compare the thermal and electrical performances of mono and polycrystalline photovoltaic modules used in FPV with those of On Ground PV (OPV) systems with a similar nominal capacity. To accomplish this, a test bench consisting of an FPV and an OPV system has been established. The results show that when the water body is partially covered with a Floating PV system, water evaporation is reduced by 17%. And it is reduced by around 28% when fully covered. It was also found that water bodies provide an adequate cooling effect. Lowering the front temperature of Floating PV modules by 2–4% and the back temperature by 5–11% compared to similar On-ground PV modules. Thermal imaging revealed that at 0 degrees of tilt, the front temperatures of the modules are uniform. Still, as the tilt increases, a temperature gradient is observed between the bottom and middle parts of the modules. In addition, an experimental test was performed to compare the power generation of Floating PV at varying tilt angles. The test results show that the Floating PV system produces the most energy when installed at the annual optimal tilt angle. As a result, for FPV, adjusting the Photovoltaic panels to their optimized tilt angle is also recommended. While Floating PV system produces 20–28% more energy than the on-ground PV system at 0°as compared to the optimal tilt angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• FPV on the non-utilizable urban lakes in Pakistan have been investigated. • The power potential of solar PV system deployed non-utilizable urban lake turns out to be 4.47 MW. • Cleaning of the FPV systems is much easier and cost effective compared to the on-ground PV systems. • The temperature drops around the water bodies increases the capacity factor yielding more energy and results in Levelized Cost of Energy for a 100 kW FPV system to be 5.64 ¢/kWh. Water bodies like small lakes, canals, and rivers in urban areas serve to be a way forward to deploy photovoltaic technology with no constraints to involve land procurement. This article aims to estimate the potential deployment of a floating photovoltaic system on an urban lake site to assess its scope and compare it with a similar specification on-ground photovoltaic system. System Advisor Model (SAM) has been used for techno-economic analysis of a site in Pakistan. The technical analysis involves observing the effect of real time temperature drop and calculation of water reduction efficiency for FPV systems. The economic parameters like net present value (NPV) and payback period are used to judge the economic feasibility of the floating photovoltaic deployment project. The floating photovoltaic deployment in an urban area is subject to soiling as the water reservoir being used exists in an area close to or within the city boundaries. The required cleaning water costs a one-time extraction rate of $1435, while for a floating photovoltaic system, the extraction cost is estimated to be $1.35. Under standard temperature conditions (STC) one-year capacity factor turns out to be 0.70% more, producing an additional energy yield of 64 kWh/kW for lake scenarios when a 10 °C temperature drop is considered. The total power potential for the entire NUST Lake turns out to be 4.47 MW. A 1 MW FPV system in NUST lake would result in a water reduction efficiency of 11.6%/year. Under standard temperature conditions, the net present value for the on-ground system becomes negative while it remains optimistic for the floating photovoltaic system as no land costs are required. Similarly, once the land cost is included in the feasibility analysis, the payback period for the on-ground system goes beyond 15 years which is only 5.37 years for a floating photovoltaic system signifying the economic feasibility of the floating photovoltaic project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of PV modules is significantly influenced by environmental factors, particularly soiling, which can be exacerbated by the presence of dew. This study aims to investigate the morphological changes caused by dew on dust and proposes a novel automated water-based cleaning system to remove dew-induced dust deposited on PV modules. The experiments were conducted under the climatic conditions of Islamabad, Pakistan, using poly-PV modules. The results revealed that the soiling losses at tilt angles of 23°, 33°, and 43° were 16.20%, 14.12%, and 11.64%, respectively. The newly proposed cleaning system utilizes flat fan nozzles to sprinkle water, and the power recovered after twenty days of effective cleaning was 12.07%, 11.40%, and 9.92% at tilt angles of 23°, 33°, and 43°, respectively. During the cleaning process, an average of 7.325 L of water was necessary to clean a surface area of 1.48 m2 of the solar PV module. Additionally, this cleaning procedure has a cooling effect on the PV modules, resulting in a reduction of the front surface temperature by 0.82 °C, 0.52 °C, and 0.45 °C at tilt angles of 23°, 33°, and 43°, respectively. The back surface temperature was also lowered by 1.2 °C, 0.74 °C, and 0.3 °C at the corresponding tilt angles. Furthermore, a financial evaluation of the proposed automatic cleaning system indicates its feasibility for both domestic and commercial-sized PV systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]