VIDEO: Floating Solar Plant Starts Operation in Albania

The first of four Ocean Sun floating solar plants started operation Wednesday at the Statkraft Banja reservoir in Albania.

The floater is located on Statkraft’s 72-megawatt hydropower plant and is now generating renewable energy and injecting the power into the Albanian national electricity grid. 

The first unit covers around 4,000 square meters and has an installed capacity of 500 kWp, with almost 1600 solar panels deployed during two effective days of installation. 

Børge Bjørneklett, CEO and founder of Ocean Sun said: “We were able to mount nearly 1600 solar panels at record breaking speed. I wish to thank the proficient teams at Statkraft and the local contractor Doko. The collaboration has been excellent, and their competence and knowledge made the installation a pleasure from start to finish."

"This is a great milestone in an innovative floating solar project, and it is exciting to see the plant come alive and provide additional renewable energy production in Albania. We are looking forward to the concrete results of this demonstration project to assess the potential for further expansion of this exciting technology," said CEO of Statkraft, Christian Rynning-Tønnesen. 

Three more floating units are expected to be installed in the second half of 2021, for a total additional capacity of 1.5 MWp.