780kW! Malaysian offshore PV starts ice-breaking journey
SolarDuck, a Dutch offshore PV company, recently announced that it has signed a letter of intent with Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Malaysia’s largest utility, to develop a 780kW offshore PV project off the coast of Tioaman Island in the future.
This project is a major milestone in the global rollout of SolarDucn’s offshore PV technology, and SolarDuck has worked extensively with a number of domestic companies in Malaysia, including TNB Renewables and TNB Research, as well as Malaysian aluminum and energy company Hydro ExtrusionNorway.
According to the partners, the project will be completed by 2025.
Earlier this year, SolarDuck opened an office in Norway, which will serve as the company’s global business development center.
In August 2021, SolarDuck’s “King Eider” offshore PV solution was awarded a license by Bureau Veritas, the first such license for offshore PV technology.
SolarDuck, based in the Netherlands, was founded in 2018 as a spin-off of leading Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards, and in 2021, the company launched its first floating PV installation in the Netherlands.
SolarDuck’s unique floating photovoltaic installation consists of four small equilateral triangles forming a large equilateral triangle. The triangles are flexibly connected to each other and can move with the waves, greatly reducing the possibility of damage by wind and waves. Because of the flexible movement of the panels, seawater from different directions cannot collect on the panels.
SolarDuck also elevates the PV installation to three meters above the sea surface, and with the marine grade aluminum, the entire system lasts up to 30 years and can withstand 5 meter wave heights and resist hurricane winds of 30 meters per second.
