GEOLUX® is a specialist engineered material with a 30-year service life, designed to increase the bifacial energy yield through increasing the front and rear-incident irradiance by increasing the natural albedo of the ground. GEOLUX can increase the ground albedo to approximately 75%, offering significant increases in yield and a reduction in the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE). One common issue for the O&M teams during the life of a solar project is how to maintain the weeds beneath the solar panels.
Maintenance of weeds is a major concern on a utility PV plant, as if left alone can result in:
Unsafe working areas
Module shading
Ingress into site equipment
Equipment overheating
Emergency O&M work
Fire risk
Maintenance can be especially difficult on sites with fixed mounts as it can often be difficult to access beneath the panels, resulting in it often being ignored. GEOLUX is an impermeable barrier which prevents light from passing, through it. This combination makes it impossible for weeds to grow beneath GEOLUX. The paper “Vegetation Management Cost and Maintenance Implications of Different Ground Covers at Utility-Scale Solar Sites” investigates the O&M costs for various different scenarios, giving an average cost of $2,233/MWdc/year.
Assuming a 30-year service life for a 100MW project, and ignoring inflation and any increased costs over time, would equate to $6.7 million in O&M costs for maintaining natural vegetation. Although maintenance will still be required in the exposed rows between the solar panels, the hard to reach and time-consuming areas will require minimum upkeep, thus reducing the cost significantly. Installing GEOLUX on a 100MW site would result in an initial CAPEX of potentially just 1/3 in total. Assuming half the O&M cost is saved through not needing to maintain beneath the panels, GEOLUX has paid for itself before even factoring in the substantial increase in bifacial gain. The capital expenditure (CAPEX) required to install GEOLUX on a 100MW site would be significantly lower than the ongoing operation and maintenance (O&M) costs associated with maintaining the site.
