Electricity and water might seem like a risky mix but combining them at University of Central Florida could alter solar business and power a football stadium.
A group of five mechanical engineering students has constructed a raft as a platform for solar panels. It floats on a retention pond near the school’s nearly decade-old stadium at the edge of campus east of Orlando.
If the tiny power plant proves effective, durable and not harmful to its immediate environment, it could pave way for a far larger array of panels able to generate as much energy as the 45,000-seat stadium consumes.
“This project is bringing awareness to a whole new sector of solar energy,” student Rebecca Shea said.
Another team member, William Rumplik, said that’s true “especially in areas with limited land.”
The floating system may be the nation’s first as others are in the works in California. The students learned the technology is getting a start in Europe, while Japan is the world leader.
“We hope that young professionals like us will invest their time in making solar energy more accessible,” Geoffrey Gregory said.
Central Florida is speckled with lakes and retention ponds and might turn out to be an ideal setting. Orlando Utilities Commission has begun to explore the option.
Group member Rubin York said he thinks the cost of floating systems compares well with solar plants on land, but prices for the wet version should drop as popularity increases.
It remains to be seen what the UCF project shows as far as upside and disadvantages.
The solar raft is a senior-design project, a requirement of a mechanical engineering degree, and grew out of brainstorming with the school’s department of energy and sustainability.
Solar panels on “Pond 2-H” can produce more than 5,000 watts, which is about enough to power a home.
No electricity leaves the pond. Instead, it powers a submerged pump that kicks on periodically with impressive force to aerate Pond 2-H.
Still unknown is the raft’s effect on pond biology. It covers more than 700 square feet of pond, an area larger than the floor of a two-car garage. The pond is large enough at 13 acres for nearly 800 such rafts, but the raft is located in small cove of the pond.
Shade cast by the raft could lessen pond evaporation and cut off sunlight needed by both beneficial and harmful aquatic plants.
The students turned to the biology department, which will observe water chemistry and ecology.
The raft is comprised of 24 main floats and many secondary floats that were assembled by the students. They likened the task to putting together enormous Lego pieces.
Solar panels are attached to the raft at upward tilt of 12 degrees for optimal exposure to sunlight. Each of 20 panels generates as much as 250 watts.
Holding it all in place are four anchors drilled into the edge of the pond and attached by cables.
The raft components were manufactured by a French company and cost about $7,000, while the panels were donated.
Total project cost was less than $9,000, which was covered by the office of energy and sustainability.
The student engineers are enthused by their project.
“Being able to put a body of water to use as a solar farm is exceptionally innovative,” student Rudolph Jara said.
But the bigger project, which would cover more than two football fields, or nearly a quarter of Pond 2-H, will be taken up by the office of sustainability.
David Norvell, assistant vice president for sustainability, said an important consideration of the pilot project is whether floating solar performs better than land systems.
A panel’s efficiency lessens as sunlight heats it up, but a floating panel should stay cooler and produce more power, Norvell said.
Norvell said it’s possible a system producing 900,000 watts could be in place on Pond 2-H within a year and could cost between $1.5 million and $1.8 million.
But beyond price is consideration that UCF, with the nation’s second largest enrollment, doesn’t have much more land for development. The vast majority of its 1,350 acres is off limits as conservation zones and only a couple of 50-acre tracts remain for construction.
That land constraint could increase viability of floating solar.
“We have a lot of ponds,” Norvell said.