DOE: Loan Programs Office
This document provides an overview of debt financing to catalyze commercial deployment of new energy technology in the U.S. by demonstrating operational and financial viability. It includes details on lending capacity and eligibility criteria.
This guide’s objective is to help government entities facilitate financing support in the commercial and residential sectors, with a secondary focus on helping state and local governments finance improvements to their own buildings. It includes financing programs for objectives for state and local governments and key elements of financing programs.
This report describes a design for an automated, offshore-fish farm, with solar, wind and hydro power as well as a durable, physical structure. The design discussed in the article includes three separate, self-maintaining energies: tidal, wind, and solar. Also included are descriptions of various offshore aquaculture cages intended for deep-water ocean designs.
This article concerns a dynamic model that simulates the main biochemical processes in a milkfish pond that is subject to floating photovoltaic (FPV) cover. The paper includes a model design description that includes details of variable components of the design, including: water temperature, phytoplankton, dissolved oxygen, fish and other variables. Results of the experiment are included, and include: calibration results, ecological effects, and trade-offs between fish and energy production.
This article concerns floating photovoltaic (FPV) systems, also called floatovoltaics, or aquavoltaics, a rapidly growing emerging technology application in which solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are sited directly on water. Along with providing such benefits as reduced evaporation and algae growth, it can lower PV operating temperatures and potentially reduce the costs of solar energy generation. This article provides the first national-level (United States) estimate of FPV technical potential using a combination of filtered, large-scale datasets, site-specific PV generation models, and geospatial analytical tools. The authors quantify FPV co-benefits and siting considerations, such as land conservation, coincidence with high electricity prices, and evaporation rates. Our results demonstrate the potential of FPV to contribute significantly to the U.S. electric sector, even using conservative assumptions.
This thesis investigates using a flexible crystalline silicon-based FPV module backed with foam, which is less expensive than conventional pontoon-based FPV. This novel form of FPV is tested experimentally for operating temperature and performance and is analyzed for water-savings using an evaporation calculation. The results show that the foam-backed FPV had a lower operating temperature than conventional pontoon-based FPV, and thus a 3.5% higher energy output per unit power. A case study of Lake Mead found that if 10% of the lake was covered with foam-backed FPV, there would be enough water conserved and electricity generated to service Las Vegas and Reno combined. At 50% coverage, the foam-backed FPV would provide over 127 TWh of clean solar electricity and 633.22 million m3 of water savings.
This article reports findings of a simulation performed to assess the potential of floating photovoltaic power generation in the tropical Gavião reservoir, located in the Northeast of Brazil. The payback analysis indicates that the investment for construction of the system is fully recovered in 8 years, and that water losses due to evaporation can be reduced by approximately 2.6 x 106 m³/year, enough to supply roughly 50,000 persons.
This article evaluates several scenarios for optimal integration of hybrid renewable energy systems, including floating and floating-tracking PV systems into a representative shrimp farm in Thailand.
The article concerns a concept known as Wavevoltaics that consists of integrating the photovoltaic (PV) cells over the vacant open-sky surface of wave devices. This article is intended to deliver the conceptual view of modelling this device and a method to estimate the available power potential and to evaluate the performance of Wavevoltaic device.
This Idaho Law Review publication discusses existing policies in many jurisdictions that create unjustifiable obstacles to solar over water development. It uses the ongoing effort to install solar panels above portions of the Central Arizona Project’s canal system as a case study to highlight the significant potential benefits of solar over water development. The article then identifies specific policy changes capable of better facilitating and promoting these innovative and uniquely valuable renewable energy projects.
