Floating Solar Array — Reservoir Ecology Trade-off

Floating Array

Panel coverage 40%

Panel efficiency 20%

Summer bloom season

Simulation speed 1.0×

Reservoir State

Day 1 — 06:00 · Sun 0%

Energy output

0.0 MW

Dissolved O₂

0.0 mg/L

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Algal bloom risk

—

Evaporation saved

How it works

Floating solar panels shade part of a reservoir's surface. That single change ripples through the water's ecology in ways that pull against each other — this is a simplified but real trade-off, integrated numerically as the simulated day runs:

Algae growth (light-limited logistic):
 dA/dt = r · (1−c) · I(t)/I₀ · A(1−A) − d·A

Dissolved oxygen (production − respiration − exchange):
 DO_sat(T) = 14.6 − 0.41·T
 dDO/dt = k·(DO_sat−DO) + p·A·(1−c)·I(t)/I₀ − q·A

Water temperature:  T = T_ambient(t) − 4·c
Energy output:  P = c · Area · I(t)/I₀ · η

c is panel coverage fraction — more coverage blocks light from open water, throttling algal photosynthesis (good for suppressing harmful blooms) but also removing the daytime oxygen boost that photosynthesis normally gives the reservoir.
Shaded water also runs cooler and evaporates less — floating arrays are genuinely used to conserve reservoir volume in dry climates.
I(t) is solar irradiance, rising and falling with the simulated sun; energy output and photosynthesis both track it directly.
Push coverage high and dissolved oxygen keeps drifting toward its physical solubility ceiling because respiration from decaying algae still consumes it while less sunlight replenishes it — a real hypoxia risk utilities have to balance against the energy and evaporation gains.

Floating panel array Algal bloom tint Sun position

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