HARC’s Study on Floating Solar Feasibility Published in Sustainability Journal

HARC’s Senior Research Associate, Vatsal Bhuva, alongside HARC collaborators Dr. Carlos Gamarra, Vice President of Energy, Air, and IT; Pam Gallagher, Energy Project Manager; and Dr. Ebrahim Eslami, recently published a study, “Unleashing the Potential of Detention Basins: A Multi-State Assessment of Photovoltaic Solar Feasibility in Low- and Moderate-Income Neighborhoods”, in the Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability Journal.  

This study examines the potential and feasibility of deploying solar panels on neighborhood stormwater detention basins as a way to achieving Net-Zero. The U.S. residential sector accounts for 15% of carbon emissions, meaning there is great potential to leverage these assets for sustainability purposes.¹

Detention and retention basins support communities by temporarily circulating and holding stormwater to prevent flooding, among other functions. The development and operations of detention and retention ponds results in high investments and maintenance costs, which means that generating power with photovoltaic solar represents an opportunity to monetize these assets and reduce the emissions of nearby residents. This prompted HARC’s team to investigate whether deploying community scale solar could be a technically and financially feasible option to apply across neighborhoods in America to help communities move toward Net-Zero. 

According to HARC’s Vatsal Bhuva, this research fills a critical gap in existing studies, “Floating solar has been explored in other contexts like reservoirs, but no prior work has considered detention and retention ponds as assets to make entire communities Net-Zero,” he said.  

The team analyzed four low-income communities in four states – Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Louisiana – assessing them for the number of homes, the size of the detention basins, and their proximity to these communities. The research explored the technical feasibility of floating solar in these basins along with car port solar installations, their potential energy generation, and associated financial implications. It also evaluated the feasibility of community solar for both traditional households that use a mix of natural gas and electricity versus all-electric households. 

The study found that, under current conditions, an all-electric neighborhood using floating solar in New Mexico offered the most promising scenario: communities there could achieve Net-zero emissions for up to 25 years, getting money back, too. 

A further step was taken in the study to analyze the cases that were not currently financially feasible and explore the barriers to allow greater deployment of neighborhood community solar. These include additional research and data, developing supportive policies, and providing incentives such as tax credits or grants. 

This paper provides a framework for how municipalities and planners might leverage existing stormwater infrastructure to advance renewable energy goals while maintaining their original flood resilience function. 

Read the full study at “Unleashing the Potential of Detention Basins: A Multi-State Assessment of Photovoltaic Solar Feasibility in Low- and Moderate-Income Neighborhoods”