Germany's Bundesrat approves removal of 15% area limit for floating PV plants

    A restriction in the draft law envisages that floating PV plants should not take greater than 15% of the surface area of an artificial lake such as a quarry fish pond. The proposal for the abolition of this limit came from North Rhine-Westphalia and also was supported by the majority of the states, the Ministry for the Environment, Climate and also Energy of Baden-Wuerttemberg claimed on Monday.

    The potential for floating PV systems have to be better exploited as this kind of plants provides the advantage of using areas for the energy transition without taking on wind turbines or ground-mounted solar plants, claimed Baden-Wuerttember's environment and energy minister Thekla Walker.

    In order to attain the renewables targets established by the federal government, solar capacity must be expanded massively not only in the structure industry however also on the ground, according to Baden-Wuerttemberg. The intended 15% area limit has actually raised problems that the existing expansion potential of floating PV would not be completely exploited.

    However, Baden-Wuerttemberg supports the scheduled restriction that floating PV systems ought to be mounted only on artificial lakes or substantially customized water bodies such as quarry ponds in order to prevent negative eco-friendly impacts.