Solar Power, Inc. (SPI, Shanghai, China) on March 19th, 2015 announced its partnership with Aqua Clean Energy (ACE) for the co-development of floating solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico.

Under the terms of the agreement, ACE and SPI will co-develop an identified pipeline of floating PV projects in the licensed territories with an estimated combined size of over 50 megawatts (MW) by establishing a joint venture holding company, Aqua Clean Energy Fund, LLC, reads the press release.

The floating PV projects to be co-developed by ACE and SPI will implement an innovative floating solar platform, which allows standard PV panels to be installed on large bodies of water such as drinking water reservoirs, quarry lakes, irrigation canals or remediation and tailing ponds.

According to SPI the platform is composed of recyclable materials and has very low environmental impact, greatly reducing water evaporation thereby conserving irrigation and drinking water and slowing algae growth due to the shielding of the water by the floating island.

“Large-scale floating PV systems have increasingly shown their effectiveness in various settings, and this platform gives SPI a strong competitive advantage in this growing market segment,” comments Xiaofeng Peng, Chairman of SPI.

“This technology not only generates clean solar power energy, but also serves to conserve water in critically dry regions like the Southwestern US and California in particular, which is now experiencing its fourth consecutive year of drought. With extensive experience in identifying host surface sites, securing water surface use approvals, performing feasibility studies and managing PV projects, Aqua Clean Energy is the ideal partner for us in the floating PV market.”