Floating solar has gained increasing popularity as the world urges energy transitions for sustainable growth. Countries with limited space pour efforts into creating better floating solar systems, including the Netherlands. After 2 years of hard work led by the Dutch Waterboard Rivierenland, INNOZOWA was delivered on a lake in Weurt in September 2019.

INNOZOWA works on a revolutionary method to make sure that the objectives of water management and ecological benefits are met. Two pilots have been created: Pilot 1 (boat-like) for large water body application, and Pilot 2 (shopping cart-like) for canal waterways application.

The two floating solar pilots are set up using a combination of mono- and bi-facial solar panels and have various characteristics. Pilot 1 has storm-proof water ballasting and solar tracking systems; whereas, Pilot 2 works using a retractable system by means of winches and is water maintenance friendly. A control group has also been installed on land for the sake of research and monitoring.

Monitoring has been ongoing since the beginning of the installation on the efficiency of panels, ecological impact and usage of the systems by the Waterboard. Final results will be available in the 2^nd quarter of 2020.

Thanks to the diverse backgrounds of the team and the support from The Netherlands Enterprise Agency, the consortium, consisting of Dutch Water Authority Rivierenland, Blue21, Hakkers and TU Delft, was able to employ their full expertise to turn this promising innovation into a success.

The public report of the project is now available (in Dutch) and can be downloaded here.

INNOZOWA patent (No. NL2023874) is officially published in May 2021. More info about the patent is available on the website of Netherlands Patents Office here.