Dutch-Norwegian floating solar specialist SolarDuck and its Japanese partners, Tokyu Land Corporation and Everblue Technologies, are pressing ahead with a project that will see Japan’s first offshore floating solar array and automated sailing boat technology demonstrated in Tokyo Bay.
The project, selected in the field of “cutting-edge renewable energy,” is part of a Tokyo government scheme to implement the world’s most advanced technologies to create a sustainable city that looks 50 to 100 years into the future.
A contract awarded to project owner Tokyu Land Corporation will aim to deploy SolarDuck’s offshore floating photovoltaic energy generation system to power Everblue’s automated sailing boats with battery storage.
SolarDuck´s triangular-shaped platform, which has received the world’s first certification for offshore floating solar by Bureau Veritas, is designed to float several meters above the water, following the waves like a carpet.
The company has made significant progress in the development of its first floater, dubbed the Merganser, following the deployment of an inland pilot in the Netherlands last year and is set to build the world´s largest array at the Hollandse Kust West VII offshore wind site in partnership with German utility RWE.
