Floating solar unit severely damaged at Banja floating solar plant, Albania

On 9 June 2021, shortly after starting commercial operations, the first floating solar unit at the Banja floating solar plant on the Banja reservoir in Albania, developed and operated by Statkraft, was severely damaged. The floating ring with its membrane and two connected barges was damaged and has since been partly submerged. The unit, built using floating solar technology supplied by Ocean Sun, comprised 1,536 solar panels with an installed capacity of 0.5MWp covering almost 4,000 square metres. Salvage of the assets, including the solar panels, was launched immediately and work was under way to bring the damaged unit fully ashore. Statkraft and Ocean Sun said health, safety, security and environment aspects were the top priority throughout the operation, and that work to identify the root causes was proceeding in parallel with securing the collapsed ring. The developers did not disclose what the incident meant for the planned second phase, which envisaged three further floating units totalling 1.5MWp. No injuries were reported in the source.

The source describes the event only as an undisclosed incident. No root cause had been released at the time of reporting and an investigation by the developers was ongoing.

1. Floating solar structures should be engineered and verified for the full range of mechanical and hydrological loads expected at a given reservoir, including in the first months after entering service.
2. Operators of on-water assets should have salvage and containment plans ready before energisation, so that a damaged or partly submerged unit can be recovered quickly and safely.
3. Publishing root cause findings, even some time after the event, helps the wider floating solar sector improve design standards and site risk assessments.

offshore-energy.biz/incident-severely-damages-floating-solar-plant-in-albania