De Markermeer Solar Array

Update : Mogelijke concept sponsor wielren route?

Click here for a PDF Project Brief

Click here to listen to the podcast version [some text was lost so this is a rewrite].. Floating solar panels offer new options to increase renewable capacity. We propose Holland starts a project to build a large array in the Markermeer, which is part of the original Zuiderzee (before the ‘Afsluitdijk’, connected to the North Sea) and IJsselmeer (current situation, a sweet water lake). The Markermeer is used for recreational sailing, and may one day be claimed as land, but that does not prohibit it’s use for solar electricity generation (when the lake dries up the pontoons simply land on the ground). It has 700 square kilometers, and above you can see what area 100 square kilometers would cover.

Old map showing the early Zuiderzee, from which much land was claimed

Floating pontoons with panels on top have several advantageous over land based panels:

  • No land is needed (quick and cheap)
  • Panels shade the water, reducing evaporation
  • Panels cooled by the water have higher output.
  • Add to this easy maintenance, level construction, securing they system

Kyocera has a system that can support big solar installations on water, like it proves with the Nishihira Pond and Higashihira Pond in Kato City Other systems are possible as well, as the Markermeer is only 5 meters deep, so poles of 12 meter deep in the clay underneath could be the basis of almost standard rows of panels. There are other floating solar systems, for example of the dutch company Van der Valk Solar. When we consider the Kyocera system we can calculate that it allows about 108 Wp to be installed per m2 of water. This means that on 10 by 10 km water, one can install  10.801.880.798 Wp, more than 10 billion Wp. This amount of solar panel would generate 9181 MWh (9 GWh) per year. This is equivalent to about 16 500 MW powerplants. Holland has about 40 powerplants of varying capacity. Two 520 MW plants on the Maasvlakte are about the biggest. Some stand idle even though they are brand new. Solar Pensions As the pension system heavily depends on the availibility of productive capacity when people recieve it (imagine you get a 1000 Euro or Dollar but there is no fossil or other energy to farm or make products), and because fossil energy is quietly shown the exit, there needs to be a replacement energy source to produce all the things pensioners may want to buy in the future. The most efficient way to deal with this is to create the renewable energy capacity to produce all the things pensioners need, preferably by using the money people pay into their pensions.

Sadly Dutch Orange Solar’s Business strategy (according to the CEO) doesn’t include creating a mega project to secure its revenues for the next 10 years

A Markermeer  Solar Array could be build over a decade, using only pension premiums, functioning as an investment object for pension funds. The money put in is returned about 2,5 times. Moreover, one could build a solar panel plant right next to the Markermeer to build the panels, which would create a lot of jobs. Further improvements to the design of the panels (no glass cover f.i.) could cut the cost of the installation per Wp. Climate goals would become easier to reach as well. Just like the dutch practically invented the pension system (Johan de Witt) they could invent the Solar Pension, not in the hand of speculators and fund directors, but in the hand of the dutch state, which knowing it has the solar GWhs to do whatever it pleases, can produce all it needs for its pensioners in the future circular economy.. Ocean Based Solar Even though wind is developing into an energy source easily deployed in even the most hostile oceanic environments, floating solar plants hold a similar promise to allow activities in places now considered remote and inpractical. We think we will see eco restorative installations in remote places like the middle of the atlantic at the equatorial lattitude, to increase ocean life thourgh artificial upwelling of deep water and dumping of CO2 to great depths (robo / extraeconomically). It now seems unfeasible economically, but this will become irrelevant when the cost of solar dips below zero. The potential to capture carbon is enormous, just like the above calculation of producing energy with an practivcally unused lake is pretty enormous. Bird Biotoop Floating solar panels already provide a place to land for birds, but providing opportunities for birds could be an integral part of the design. Floating reed island strips between the panels for breeding and foraging. This could also purify the water as is demonstrated in the projects of Floatingislandsinternational. It would be in the Dutch tradition to try such an approach, which has the advantage of being insensitive to waterlevel changes. More examples

source

Chapter 2, Markermeer Seaweed Farm ?

apparently the low depth of the Markermeer offers more potential, in fact, the lake is plagued by seaweed growing, or maybe not seaweed but waterplants (as it is sweet water)

The waterplants called Fonteinkruid are wrapping themselves around the boat screws. It is viewed as a pest that produces useless material. But is that the case? It is biomass which can be digested, but there are other benefits to having it : Oxygen production.

So by allowing this plant to grow in the Markermeer one can capture CO2, which is turned into the plants + oxygen, making the lake a big CO2 sink. With the profit from biogas production from the weed one can pay for clearing it in the right places. Maybe this can even pay for the Solar Array.

Energie opslag

Verschillende innovatieve energie opslag mechanismen zijn in ontwikkeling. ECN heeft een concept met een vliegwiel in de vorm van een maglev trein die ondergronds met enorme massa rondjes zou maken. Voor het Markermeer is het misschien handig om perslucht opslag te gebruiken in luchtzakken onder water.

Troebel water

Het Markermeer heeft al jaren last van troebel water. Door de wind wordt het water onhelder waardoor planten niet groeien, wat impact heeft op de visstand, en indirect op de aalscholvers die de vis in het meer graag eten. Misschien kan de wind brekende en dekkende werking van drijven de zonnepanelen dit probleem kleiner maken, en zo ook weer voor inkomsten bij de vissers zorgen. Al verschillende malen is de dominante vissoort compleet veranderd door de instabiliteit van het meer. Rustig water wordt helder, het heeft waterplanten en vis en het trekt vogels aan.

Kunstmatige eilanden

Er is reeds een kunstmatig eiland aangelegd tegen de ribdijk bij Enkhuizen, als habitat die bij sommige windrichtingen nat is en bij andere droog. Ook zijn er kunstmatige eilanden gemaakt met behulp van slip in een zak.

Gebroeders Das en Markermeer:

http://www.stichtingmilieunet.nl/andersbekekenblog/klimaat/is-dit-de-oplossing.html

http://www.we-at-sea.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/RL4-1-2006-010-Energie-eiland-opslag.pdf

http://www.overwind.nl/artikelen/plan-lievense-2/

http://nrcboeken.vorige.nrc.nl/recensie/twee-tekentafel-cowboys

https://www.speakersacademy.com/files/publications/Rudolf%20Das%20-%20Interview%20ACADEMY%202005-1.pdf

Marker Wadden:
https://www.natuurmonumenten.nl/sites/default/files/Vista%20-%20Houtribdijk%20Marker%20Wadden%2022-04-14m.pdf

https://www.natuurmonumenten.nl/thema/marker-wadden

https://www.natuurmonumenten.nl/het-project

Alle plannen langs de Houtribdijk (Dijk Enkhuizen – Lelystad):

overzicht:
http://www.rijkswaterstaat.nl/water/plannen_en_projecten/vaarwegen/markermeer/natuurlijker_markermeer_ijmeer/metingen_en_experimenten/lopend/ (overzicht)

http://www.ecoshape.nl/nl_NL/houtribdijk.html

https://www.natuurmonumenten.nl/sites/default/files/Het%20aanleggen%20van%20pilot%20moeras%20in%20het%20Markermeer-v5%2020140819%20def.pdf

http://www.gebrvanderlee.nl/pdf/q2_2013.pdf

http://www.innoverenmetwater.nl/upload/documents/Pilotstudie%20drijvend%20rietmoeras%20Houtribsluizen%20(rapport).pdf

Another example of a floating solar array, could be a fresh water plant..

Indian solar array on lake