Physical analysis of the environmental impacts of fishery complementary photovoltaic power plant

Photovoltaic (PV) power plants have shown rapid development in the renewable sector, but the research areas have mainly included land installations, and the study of fishery complementary photovoltaic (FPV) power plants has been comparatively less. Moreover, the mechanism of local microclimate changes caused by FPV panels has not been reported. This work revealed this mechanism using a physical model to illustrate the impact of FPV power plants in a lake on the environment. The results indicated that the lake becomes a heat sink after deploying the PV panel on water. The comprehensive albedo (0.082) decreased by 18.8% relative to the free water surface (0.101). The water energy change was dominated by the water–air vapor pressure deficit. In addition, the FPV panels had a heating effect on the ambient environment; however, the range of this effect was related to the water depth. The installation had an obvious heating effect on surface water.