Article written by Isabella O’Malley, via https://apnews.com on 10 May 2023
Long popular in Asia, floating solar catches on in US. When Joe Seaman-Graves, the city planner for the working class town of Cohoes, New York, Googled the term “floating solar,” he didn’t even know it was a thing.
Floating solar panel systems are beginning to boom in the United States after rapid growth in Asia.
Bartle’s company has launched 28 floating solar projects in the U.S. Limited land may have spurred some countries in Asia like Japan and Malaysia to expand floating solar, and other countries just took advantage of the steep plunge in prices for solar that has dramatically changed the economic picture for solar adoption globally.
Bartle estimates floating solar costs 10-15% more than land solar initially, but owners save money in the long run.
As far as he knows, Seaman-Graves said, it’s is the first municipally-owned floating solar project in the country.