Two Swiss companies have teamed up to build three floating “solar islands”, each with 100 photovoltaic panels, on Lake Neuchâtel this year. Each of the floating islands — made by energy company Viteos and photovoltaics specialist Nolaris — will measure 25 metres in diameter, are to be used as laboratories to test concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies. CSP plants concentrate sunlight onto boilers to produce steam, which is sent via a pipeline to a shore-based plant where it drives steam turbines, which generate power. Each of the 100 solar panels on the islands are positioned at a 45 degree incline. The entire island can then rotate 220 degrees in the direction of the Sun to optimise the amount of solar energy it can harness throughout the day. The idea has been in the pipeline for several years, with a Swiss researcher called Thomas Hinderling telling Wired in 2008 that he could build solar islands several miles across to produce hundreds of megawatts of “relatively inexpensive power”.
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