Renewable Energy Training Courses > Floating Solar Farms (FPVS) - Technical Architecture, Operations and Economics

About this Training Course

Countries around the world are focusing on ramping up their solar photovoltaic (PV) production capacity as part of their efforts to decarbonize power generation. Floating solar farms (FPVs) indeed offer a promising solution to address the issue of limited land availability for traditional PV power plants and offer major operational advantages, despite some challenges they present.

The course builds on several pillars:

Global Shift Towards Sustainable Energy: Many countries are increasing their solar PV production capacity to transition to sustainable energy sources and reduce carbon emissions. This transition is seen as a crucial step in addressing climate change and ensuring a cleaner and greener energy future. The course provides a comprehensive, holistic overview of the key aspects related to FPVs and inverter-based PV systems, emphasizing their role in the global transition to sustainable and decarbonized power generation. It reflects the ongoing efforts to harness renewable energy sources and reduce the carbon footprint of the power sector

Architecture and Operation of Floating Solar Farms (FPVs): FPVs are an innovative approach to overcome land constraints. These systems involve installing PV panels on water bodies such as lakes, reservoirs, and ponds, utilizing otherwise unused space. FPVs can provide a significant amount of electricity while minimizing the environmental impact.Challenges of Land Availability: Traditional PV power plants often require extensive land areas, which can be a challenge in countries with limited available land. This limitation is a driving factor behind the adoption of floating solar solutions. The course focuses on the architecture, controls and the specific features of floating structures from maintenance to financing.

Inverter-Based Resources: Inverter-based PV generators play a crucial role in integrating solar energy into the grid. They provide various functions, including voltage support, frequency response, regulation (droop response), reactive power compensation, and maintaining power quality. These capabilities are essential for the reliable and stable integration of solar power into the grid. The flexibility of the invertor-based resources facilitates a higher penetration of floating or land PVs, Battery Electricity Storage Systems (BESS) and demand response. 

Relevant case studies and applicable standards: This training course focuses on FPVs, covering various aspects such as architecture, controls, maintenance, and financing. It draws examples primarily from ASEAN countries, where FPVs have gained increasing popularity, as well as hybrid projects  in Canada and the United States, which combine PV installations with hydroelectric reservoirs. Recommended practices, applicable internaational standards are discussed that provide guidance for the design, operation and maintenance of floating PV structures.

  • Understand and learn the architecture and specific characteristics of Floating PV Solar
  • Examine the technical and economic characteristics of Floating PV Solar
  • Appreciate and distinguish the opportunities and challenges found in Floating Solar Farms and Land Solar Farms
  • Gain insights, examples and challenges discovered from renewable generation in ASEAN countries and North America
  • Get familiar with the major participants in the floating PV market
  • Solar photovoltaic project leaders and engineers
  • Renewable power system design engineers and planners
  • Energy procurement and buyers from power system operators
  • Renewable energy business development professionals and suppliers
  • Power utility regulators and renewable energy development agencies involved driving strategies and plans in the solar photovoltaic sector
  • Intermediate

Your First Expert Course Trainer is a Utility Executive with extensive global experience in power system operation and planning, energy markets, enterprise risk and regulatory oversight. She consults on energy markets integrating renewable resources from planning to operation. She led complex projects in operations and conducted long term planning studies to support planning and operational reliability standards. Specializing in Smart Grids, Operational flexibilities, Renewable generation, Reliability, Financial Engineering, Energy Markets and Power System Integration, she was recently engaged by the Inter-American Development Bank/MHI in Guyana. She was the Operations Expert in the regulatory assessment in Oman. She is a registered member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario, Canada. She is also a contributing member to the IEEE Standards Association, WG Blockchain P2418.5.

With over 25 years with Ontario Power Generation (Revenue $1.2 Billion CAD, I/S 16 GW), she served as Canadian representative in CIGRE, committee member in NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada), and Senior Member IEEE and Elsevier since the 90ties. Our key expert chaired international conferences, lectured on several continents, published a book on Reliability and Security of Nuclear Power Plants, contributed to IEEE and PMAPS and published in the Ontario Journal for Public Policy, Canada. She delivered seminars organized by the Power Engineering Society, IEEE plus seminars to power companies worldwide, including Oman, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Portugal, South Africa, Japan, Romania, and Guyana.

Our Key expert delivered over 60 specialized seminars to executives and engineers from Canada, Europe, South and North America, Middle East, South East Asia and Japan. Few examples are:

  • Modern Power System in Digital Utilities – The Energy Commission, Malaysia and utilities in the Middle East, GCCIA, June 2020
  • Assessment of OETC Control Centre, Oman, December 2019
  • Demand Side management, Load Forecasting in a Smart Grid, Oman, 2019
  • Renewable Resources in a Smart Grid (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, GCCIA, Saudi Arabia)
  • The Modern Power System: Impact of the Power Electronics on the Power System
  • The Digital Utility, AI and Blockchain
  • Smart Grid and Reliability of Distribution Systems, Cyme, Montreal, Canada
  • Economic Dispatch in the context of an Energy Market (TNB, Sarawak Energy, Malaysia)
  • Energy Markets, Risk Assessment and Financial Management, PES, IEEE: Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Portugal, South Africa, Japan. Provided training at CEO and CRO level.
  • Enterprise Risk methodology, EDP, Portugal
  • Energy Markets: Saudi Electricity Company, Tenaga National Berhad, Malaysia
  • Reliability Centre Maintenance (South East Asia, Saudi Electricity Company, KSA)
  • EUSN, ENERGY & UTILITIES SECTOR NETWORK, Government of Canada, 2016
  • Connected+, IOT, Toronto, Canada September 2016 and 2015
  • Smart Grid, Smart Home HomeConnect, Toronto, Canada November 2014
  • Wind Power: a Cautionary Tale, Ontario Centre for Public Policy, 2010

Your Second Expert Course Trainer is the co-founder and Director of Research at Xesto Inc. Xesto is a spatial computing AI startup based in Toronto, Canada and it has been voted as Toronto’s Best Tech Startup 2019 and was named one of the top 10 “Canadian AI Startups to Watch” as well as one of 6th International finalists for the VW Siemens Startup Challenge, resulting in a partnership. His latest app Xesto-Fit demonstrates how advanced AI and machine learning is applied to the e-commerce industry, as a result of which Xesto has been recently featured in TechCrunch.

He specializes in both applied and theoretical machine learning and has extensive experience in both industrial and academic research. He is specialized in Artificial Intelligence with multiple industrial applications. At Xesto, he leads projects that focus on applying cutting edge research at the intersection of spatial analysis, differential geometry, optimization of deep neural networks, and statistics to build scalable rigorous and real time performing systems that will change the way humans interact with technology. In addition, he is a Ph.D candidate in the Mathematics department at UofT, focusing on applied mathematics. His academic research interests are in applying advanced mathematical methods to the computational and statistical sciences. He earned a Bachelor’s and MSc in Mathematics, both at the University of Toronto.

Having presented at research seminars as well as instructing engineers on various levels, he has the ability to distill advanced theoretical concept to diverse audiences on all levels. In addition to research, our key expert is also an avid traveler and plays the violin.

Unlock the potential of your workforce with customized in-house training programs designed specifically for the energy sector. Our tailored, in-house courses not only enhance employee skills and engagement but also offer significant cost savings by eliminating travel expenses. Invest in your team's success and achieve specific outcomes aligned with your organization's goals through our expert training solutions. Request for further information regarding our on-site or in-house training opportunities.

To further optimise your learning experience from our courses, we also offer individualized “One to One” coaching support for 2 hours post training. We can help improve your competence in your chosen area of interest, based on your learning needs and available hours. This is a great opportunity to improve your capability and confidence in a particular area of expertise. It will be delivered over a secure video conference call by one of our senior trainers. They will work with you to create a tailor-made coaching program that will help you achieve your goals faster.
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