Floating solar farm

Energy Division

This project was completed in 2012 in Newark, not far from New York. A water retention basin feeding a water treatment plant anchored on Seaflex and powered by solar panels. The project had to meet major challenges: winter conditions with ice, possible hurricanes with large variations in water level.

Power afloat

Solar photovoltaic panels on a New Jersey reservoir for a concept that could expand opportunities for renewable energy for water agencies.

Located 14 miles west of Newark in Millburn, N.J., the reservoir and treatment plant are owned and operated by New Jersey American Water

As part of its goal to reducing fossil fuel usage and its carbon footprint, the company chose solar energy to address growing power needs.

The company has installed or planned nine ground-mounted and roof-mounted solar energy projects totaling nearly 3 MW since 2005. The Canoe Brook is the East Coast’s first floating solar array designed to withstand a freeze/thaw environment.

Unique design

To engineer the floating array’s docking system, ENERActive Solutions turned to Poralu Marine of St. Eustache, Quebec.

The flotation components are HDPE-covered foam blocks robust enough to handle harsh weather and freezing.

On the aluminum dock, the array, developed by ENERActive Solutions is designed just like a ground-mounted system. A racking system holds each 77- by 39-inch solar panel at a 14 degree angle for sun exposure.

Highlights

1/ A walkway provides access to the solar panels for maintenance.

2/ The 400 solar panels have a combined 112 kW capacity.

3/ An aluminium structure that provides perfect stability and robustness in the weather.

4/ The dock is connected to concrete block anchors with a Seaflex elastic mooring system (Seaflex AB, Umeå, Sweden) that involves numerous crisscrossing rubberized hawsers. The flexible mooring provides the right level of tension to hold the array at a proper orientation for maximum solar benefit
throughout the year.