Australia's first floating solar technology

Infratech Industries has launched Australia’s first floating solar system, which is estimated to generate 57% more power than fixed land-based systems.

The proprietary tracking, cooling and concentrating technology uses water to counteract the gradual loss of output caused by overheating solar panels to create a better performing and more efficient system.

Based in South Australia’s Jamestown, the Northern Areas Council Waste Water Treatment Plant is the first to implement the new system, which is expected to exceed the plant’s high energy needs and will feed through to the surrounding local communities and council buildings.

Infratech Industries Director Felicia Whiting said the benefits extend beyond energy efficiencies to improve the treatment plant’s water quality and create nearly 70 new jobs for the local community as a result of the project.

“Blue-green algae is a major concern for wastewater treatment plants and the shade produced by the floating solar panels combats this problem by limiting the photosynthesis process. The energy goes into the panels, not the water, so the surface stays cool, which helps to lift the quality of treated wastewater,” she said.

The Northern Areas Council will reap additional economic benefits with a cost saving of approximately 15% on their current energy expenditure plus an additional 1% margin on the excess energy provided to the local community. No small undertaking and privately funded, more than15 Australian engineers and research scientists in the Nano Science and Technology Department in Adelaide’s Flinders University were involved in the project’s technological and engineering development. The development team will remain involved as research and development continues into integrated water treatment, phosphorous treatment systems and energy storage.

“The development of Australian owned, researched and developed floating solar is to be applauded as it shows that Australian companies can be leaders in the transition to economies that are powered by increasing amounts of renewable energy. In addition to reducing greenhouse emissions, there is also strong potential to export this technology to other countries, which can only lead to even more jobs,” said Jon Dee, Australia’s leading expert in energy efficiency, author of Energy Cut, and co-founder of the Planet Ark and DoSomething organisations