Electric Power Generation Under Water using Mono-Crystalline Solar Panel

(Possibility of electric power generation under sea water)

Abstract

In recent years, photovoltaic power generation has spread around world as the performance of solar panels has improved. Although, small islands such as Japan which does not have enough space to install solar panels desire to use of the exclusive economic zone. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of solar power generation under the sea water by demonstration experiments. In order to investigate the possibility of solar power generation under the sea water, preliminary experiments were conducted using a single crystal silicon solar panel. As a result, 1) The power generation efficiency does not decrease until the water depth reaches 200mm. 2) The power generation efficiency is greatly influenced by the water temperature. The lower the water temperature results the higher the power generation efficiency. 3) Electric power generation efficiency is not affected by salinity up to 5w%.