Energy Production and Water Savings From Floating Solar Photovoltaics On Global Reservoirs-Supplementary
Energy Production and Water Savings From Floating Solar Photovoltaics On Global Reservoirs-Supplementary
Analysis https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01089-6
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Supplementary Figures
Supplementary Fig. 1. The flow chart of the analysis in this study. (a) Estimation of FPV
generation potential; (b) Comparison between electricity generation and demand on a city
scale; (c) Water savings after the installation of FPV systems. * The number of reservoirs
larger than 0.01 km2 in combined databases is less than the sum of reservoirs in three
databases because we take the maximum boundary for duplicated reservoirs and some
reservoirs near coasts that lack meteorological data are excluded.
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Supplementary Fig. 2. Spatial distributions of global reservoirs larger than 0.01 km2 and
histogram of reservoir areas in the three databases. Each point represents the geometric
center of a reservoir. The inserted numbers in histograms indicate the number of reservoirs in
each database. Our analysis uses all three databases, whereas, the recent analysis by World
Bank (2019) only used the GRanD database.
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Supplementary Fig. 3. Global potential of annual FPV generation on reservoirs with
installed hydro-electric generation function (based on GRanD database). The color shows
the average annual FPV generation with a 30% coverage (not exceeding 30 km2) from 2001 to
2020. The size of the circle shows the area of the reservoirs. Note that reservoirs smaller than
100 km2 are shown as points in the figure.
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Supplementary Fig. 4. Global potential for annual FPV generation. (a) Spatial
distribution of global average annual FPV generation potential from 2001 to 2020 across a
0.5°×0.5° grid, assuming 10% coverage on reservoir surfaces (not exceeding 30 km2); (b)
Same as (a) but assuming 20% coverage. The estimates are based on historical climatic
forcing (solar radiation from CERES; and temperature and wind speed from ERA5).
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Supplementary Fig. 5. Global FPV generation potential on large reservoirs (>100 km2).
The map indicates the generation potential per unit area and the area of each large reservoir.
The subgraph indicates the total generation potential of FPV and the installed area of FPV
panels on these large reservoirs when the maximum area limitation is 30, 40, and 50 km2,
assuming a 30% coverage.
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Supplementary Fig. 6. Spatial distribution of average surface shortwave down flux from
2001 to 2020. This largely reflects the generation potential of PV systems per unit area. The
data is from CERES.
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Supplementary Fig. 7. Satellite imagery and reservoir distribution in (a) Lalitpur, India
and (b) Shenzhen, China. The yellow line is the administrative boundary the and blue
polygons are reservoirs. The satellite imagery is from
http://server.arcgisonline.com/arcgis/rest/services/World_Imagery/MapServer/tile/{z}/{y}/{x}
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Supplementary Fig. 8. Estimated global reduction of evaporation from FPV
development with 30% reservoir coverage (not exceeding 30 km2). Spatial distribution of
the mean reduction of potential evaporation (Epen) on reservoirs after the installation of FPV
panels from 2001 to 2020 across a 0.5°×0.5° grid. Vapor pressure and air temperature
(maximum, minimum, mean) are obtained from the Climate Research Unit (CRU). Wind
speed and solar radiation data are from the ERA5 and CERES, respectively.
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Supplementary Fig. 9. Estimated global electricity demand and validation. (a) Spatial
distribution of estimated electricity demand in second-level divisions (city, county, district,
municipality, etc.) in each country. The circle color is the estimated electricity demand of each
administrative unit suitable for the construction of FPV. The circle size is the area of the
administrative unit. (b) Comparison of estimated and actual electricity demand in states of the
United States. In the absence of actual electricity demand in most counties in the United
States and cities in other countries, we validated our estimates on a state scale. We find that
the estimated demand for electricity in most states is close to the actual demand, which
indicates that our method for estimating the demand for electricity in cities is feasible. (c)
Comparison of estimated and actual electricity demand in counties of California. We only
found data on electricity demand in California counties and validated our estimates. The result
shows that we may have overestimated the demand for electricity in developed regions like
California.
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Supplementary Tables
Akrotiri and
1 243,848 m2 73,154 m2 14.8 ±0.2 GWh 202.0 ±2.3
Dhekelia
Albania 147 122 37 5.9 ±0.2 165.7 ±3.8
590.2 ±19.3
Belgium 69 16 5 126.6 ±3.8
GWh
630.2 ±12.6
Belize 9 10 3 208.0 ±4.1
GWh
Benin 61 8 2 604.7 ±6.0 GWh 250.1 ±2.3
Bosnia and
76 157 47 7.0 ±0.2 148.5 ±4.9
Herzegovina
Botswana 44 238 71 16.3 ±0.3 225.2 ±4.0
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GWh
Bulgaria 710 379 114 18.2 ±0.5 159.5 ±3.9
Democratic
Republic of the 24 434 65 16.5 ±0.2 267.2 ±2.3
Congo
Denmark 10 282,823 m2 84,847 m2 9.8 ±0.3 GWh 116.0 ±3.3
Dominican
33 85 25 5.4 ±0.1 216.9 ±5.1
Republic
Ecuador 135 207 51 10.7 ±0.3 215.4 ±4.3
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408.9 ±11.1
Estonia 151 13 4 108.0 ±3.0
GWh
Ethiopia 76 1,373 271 73.8 ±0.9 271.7 ±3.1
1,845.1 ±32.6
Guatemala 17 28 8 214.2 ±3.9
GWh
Guinea 11 113 34 8.7 ±0.1 257.0 ±3.1
2,846.0 ±38.5
Guinea-Bissau 1 37,115 m2 11,135 m2 255.6 ±3.5
MWh
1,766.7 ±36.8
Haiti 7 28 8 219.4 ±3.8
GWh
Honduras 23 172 51 10.8 ±0.3 221.3 ±3.7
1,644.6 ±16.1
Israel 172 25 8 215.8 ±2.1
GWh
Italy 939 1,089 215 33.8 ±0.8 160.2 ±3.5
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Jersey 1 56,741 m2 17,022 m2 2.3 ±0.1 GWh 136.0 ±3.2
757.3 ±21.2
Kosovo 7 16 5 156.3 ±4.4
GWh
Kuwait 2 276,388 m2 82,917 m2 17.4 ±0.3 GWh 210.6 ±3.8
2,077.9 ±30.0
Liberia 1 29 9 239.9 ±3.5
GWh
Libya 29 8 2 521.0 ±4.7 GWh 219.3 ±2.0
1,996.8 ±23.5
Malta 1 33,208 m2 9,962 m2 200.4 ±2.4
MWh
Martinique 2 507,658 m2 152,297 m2 38.2 ±0.7 GWh 250.4 ±4.6
1,290.2 ±40.1
Montenegro 7 28 8 153.2 ±4.6
GWh
Morocco 318 583 175 36.2 ±0.5 210.7 ±2.7
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Mozambique 31 2,862 131 28.5 ±0.4 224.7 ±3.1
3,361.9 ±43.9
Nicaragua 34 53 16 221.0 ±2.5
GWh
Niger 11 8 2 656.6 ±7.9 GWh 268.1 ±3.1
Papua New
2 48 14 3.3 ±0.1 232.4 ±3.9
Guinea
Paraguay 299 2,253 131 25.5 ±0.6 194.3 ±4.3
1,481.2 ±35.0
Puerto Rico 31 22 7 221.6 ±5.4
GWh
1,874.4 ±28.9
Qatar 2 28,891 m2 8,667 m2 216.3 ±3.3
MWh
Republic of
2 107 32 8.1 ±0.1 257.2 ±2.8
Congo
Reunion 3 136,748 m2 41,024 m2 9.6 ±0.1 GWh 234.2 ±2.2
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Samoa 1 1,443,040 m2 432,912 m2 100.4 ±1.7 GWh 231.9 ±3.8
3,535.7 ±35.2
Saudi Arabia 72 51 15 239.9 ±1.9
GWh
Senegal 114 212 35 9.2 ±0.1 256.5 ±3.0
1,048.3 ±11.7
Sierra Leone 3 14 4 243.0 ±2.5
GWh
685.3 ±15.3
Singapore 34 9 3 265.9 ±6.0
GWh
Slovakia 206 189 57 7.4 ±0.2 130.8 ±4.2
447.7 ±13.5
Slovenia 15 11 3 142.3 ±4.4
GWh
Somalia 53 956,614 m2 286,984 m2 87.4 ±0.8 GWh 304.0 ±2.7
Trinidad and
3 5 1 384.5 ±5.5 GWh 257.2 ±3.6
Tobago
Tunisia 207 296 89 16.7 ±0.2 191.3 ±2.6
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Uganda 21 28,491 32 10.2 ±0.2 301.9 ±3.5
United Arab
10 512,310 m2 153,693 m2 34.6 ±0.4 GWh 224.7 ±2.7
Emirates
United Kingdom 1,031 587 176 19.0 ±0.4 113.4 ±2.5
* Reservoirs from GRanD, GeoDAR, and OSM databases that are appropriate for developing
FPV.
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Supplementary Table 2. Estimated annual water savings and mean evaporation reduced
percent at 30% reservoir coverage (not exceeding 30 km2) in 180 countries. An empty
entry indicates that there is no climate data for that area in the CRU dataset. For the
units of water savings, mcm = 106 m3; tcm = 103 m3. No uncertainty of the mean
evaporation reduced percent occurs in some countries because there is only one reservoir
in the reservoir and/or climate database.
Mean Mean
Water savings evaporation Water savings evaporation
Country Country
(mcm) reduced (mcm) reduced
percent (%) percent (%)
Afghanistan 98.3 ±1.5 44.9 ±1.0 Libya 6.0 ±0.1 44.5 ±0.7
Akrotiri and
177.8 ±4.3 tcm 45.1 ±0.0 Lithuania 32.0 ±1.9 46.3 ±3.4
Dhekelia
Albania 51.8 ±2.1 46.0 ±0.2 Luxembourg 794.1 ±28.3 tcm 46.3 ±0.1
Algeria 269.7 ±4.1 45.8 ±1.1 Macedonia 28.9 ±1.1 45.8 ±0.2
Andorra 34.7 ±1.5 tcm 46.4 ±0.1 Madagascar 63.8 ±1.0 48.5 ±0.5
Angola 307.2 ±5.0 45.3 ±6.9 Malawi 5.5 ±0.1 47.0 ±0.5
Argentina 1,275.8 ±14.4 45.7 ±4.2 Malaysia 599.1 ±8.9 47.7 ±6.6
Armenia 21.5 ±1.0 45.8 ±0.5 Mali 312.1 ±6.6 41.9 ±9.0
Austria 26.9 ±1.0 47.6 ±1.0 Martinique 531.8 ±15.0 tcm 45.7 ±0.2
Azerbaijan 145.7 ±5.6 44.5 ±6.3 Mauritania 217.9 ±2.9 40.5 ±4.7
Bangladesh 72.0 ±1.3 47.2 ±3.4 Mauritius 10.6 ±0.1 46.9 ±0.0
Belarus 125.9 ±7.3 46.6 ±0.2 Mayotte 282.4 ±3.7 tcm 47.4 ±0.0
Belgium 5.6 ±0.2 46.2 ±0.3 Mexico 2,669.4 ±31.9 44.7 ±2.5
Belize 8.8 ±0.2 48.7 ±0.3 Moldova 36.4 ±1.4 45.9 ±0.1
Benin 8.5 ±0.1 46.2 ±0.7 Mongolia 17.3 ±1.2 44.8 ±0.9
Bolivia 132.2 ±2.3 47.0 ±0.8 Montenegro 10.6 ±0.5 46.0 ±0.2
Bosnia and
61.8 ±2.4 46.7 ±0.4 Morocco 356.8 ±6.4 45.8 ±1.3
Herzegovina
Botswana 213.1 ±4.6 44.5 ±1.4 Mozambique 331.1 ±6.3 44.4 ±9.6
Brazil 10,631.8 ±178.0 46.0 ±3.1 Myanmar 940.3 ±16.5 46.8 ±3.1
Brunei 17.4 ±0.2 49.2 ±0.4 Namibia 86.8 ±1.2 43.8 ±0.7
Bulgaria 169.2 ±6.3 46.2 ±0.4 Nepal 5.0 ±0.1 47.2 ±1.1
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Burkina Faso 679.0 ±12.6 44.0 ±3.2 Netherlands 64.2 ±2.5 46.0 ±2.7
New
Burundi 1.3 ±0.0 48.5 ±0.1 71.5 ±1.3 tcm 47.5 ±0.0
Caledonia
Cambodia 197.3 ±4.6 47.0 ±6.5 New Zealand 277.2 ±7.0 46.7 ±3.0
Cameroon 445.7 ±8.7 39.7 ±14.4 Nicaragua 44.8 ±0.8 46.6 ±0.8
Canada 3,617.4 ±124.5 45.6 ±8.4 Niger 10.6 ±0.2 42.4 ±0.8
Cape Verde 174.0 ±2.4 tcm 45.3 ±1.0 Nigeria 1,115.3 ±15.5 44.0 ±6.5
Central
African 38.5 ±1.2 48.4 ±0.4 North Korea 276.9 ±8.6 47.3 ±1.2
Republic
Northern
Chad 39.7 ±0.7 42.7 ±1.7 1,802.1 ±41.1 tcm 45.5 ±0.4
Cyprus
Chile 395.8 ±4.9 46.6 ±1.5 Norway 584.6 ±20.1 47.0 ±2.5
China 14,421.1 ±182.1 47.5 ±1.8 Oman 6.0 ±0.2 46.9 ±0.8
Colombia 578.0 ±15.2 48.6 ±2.0 Pakistan 679.8 ±9.9 44.3 ±4.0
Costa Rica 74.4 ±1.5 48.1 ±1.7 Palestina 466.7 ±8.4 tcm 45.7 ±0.2
Côte dIvoire 308.7 ±4.9 45.9 ±5.6 Panama 150.7 ±3.4 36.8 ±18.6
Papua New
Croatia 25.5 ±0.9 46.6 ±0.4 50.0 ±0.6 47.4 ±1.8
Guinea
Cuba 383.8 ±10.9 47.0 ±0.6 Paraguay 328.4 ±6.1 47.7 ±4.4
Cyprus 7.4 ±0.2 45.0 ±0.5 Peru 300.0 ±6.4 46.7 ±1.9
Czech
96.9 ±4.9 46.3 ±0.2 Philippines 156.1 ±2.0 48.6 ±0.6
Republic
Democratic
Republic of 159.9 ±4.2 45.1 ±8.9 Poland 168.5 ±8.6 46.4 ±0.3
the Congo
Denmark 89.2 ±4.4 tcm 46.6 ±0.3 Portugal 359.2 ±7.9 45.0 ±0.8
Djibouti 917.9 ±16.0 tcm 46.1 ±1.3 Puerto Rico 19.7 ±0.5 48.2 ±1.1
Dominican
64.2 ±2.3 47.6 ±0.9 Qatar
Republic
Republic of
Ecuador 111.5 ±1.8 47.1 ±2.0 85.6 ±2.1 41.6 ±10.8
Congo
Egypt 810.4 ±11.2 42.4 ±8.9 Reunion 125.1 ±2.0 tcm 48.7 ±0.0
El Salvador 106.0 ±1.5 44.8 ±7.4 Romania 223.0 ±7.9 46.5 ±0.5
Equatorial
18.6 ±0.6 49.6 ±0.0 Russia 1,742.5 ±47.8 45.5 ±4.1
Guinea
Eritrea 15.6 ±0.3 46.1 ±0.9 Rwanda 49.3 ±1.0 48.8 ±0.2
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Estonia 3.9 ±0.2 47.3 ±0.2 Samoa
Ethiopia 636.2 ±13.6 43.7 ±7.4 Saudi Arabia 47.5 ±0.7 42.7 ±1.4
Faroe Islands 397.7 ±12.4 tcm 47.2 ±0.0 Senegal 110.2 ±1.4 43.6 ±2.8
Finland 276.2 ±13.5 45.7 ±8.0 Serbia 75.2 ±2.7 46.1 ±0.2
France 210.0 ±6.3 46.1 ±0.6 Sierra Leone 14.1 ±0.3 47.5 ±0.5
French Guiana 70.9 ±2.5 29.2 ±26.3 Singapore 7.2 ±0.1 47.6 ±0.2
French
Slovakia 63.8 ±2.5 46.6 ±0.5
Polynesia
Gabon 69.3 ±2.0 49.4 ±0.2 Slovenia 3.9 ±0.1 47.2 ±0.4
Georgia 42.2 ±2.0 46.5 ±0.4 Somalia 1,151.3 ±27.7 tcm 44.4 ±0.7
Germany 101.0 ±4.5 46.3 ±0.4 South Africa 1585.9 ±23.5 45.7 ±1.2
Ghana 224.9 ±4.1 44.4 ±6.1 South Korea 362.8 ±9.3 47.4 ±0.5
Greece 233.1 ±8.2 45.7 ±0.9 South Sudan 2.4 ±0.1 44.1 ±0.4
Greenland 0.6 ±0.1 49.8 ±0.2 Spain 1,191.0 ±26.8 45.1 ±0.8
Guatemala 23.6 ±0.3 48.9 ±0.5 Sri Lanka 928.1 ±14.6 46.8 ±0.5
Guinea 102.2 ±2.6 45.4 ±1.7 Sudan 592.4 ±9.5 40.7 ±7.1
Guinea-Bissau 42.8 ±0.9 tcm 45.2 ±0.0 Suriname 77.4 ±2.5 2.5 ±0.0
Svalbard and
Haiti 21.5 ±0.7 47.2 ±0.7 145.3 ±7.7 tcm 48.1 ±0.5
Jan Mayen
Honduras 118.4 ±1.9 46.5 ±2.1 Swaziland 50.8 ±1.1 47.2 ±0.1
Hungary 36.4 ±1.1 46.0 ±1.5 Sweden 569.5 ±26.3 46.4 ±6.0
Iceland 90.2 ±5.9 47.9 ±1.7 Switzerland 58.9 ±2.8 47.8 ±1.7
India 11,124.8 ±135.1 45.5 ±2.2 Syria 209.8 ±4.4 42.1 ±5.5
Indonesia 431.6 ±8.6 48.2 ±0.6 Tajikistan 106.6 ±2.0 43.6 ±7.0
Iran 927.4 ±15.6 43.5 ±1.4 Tanzania 265.9 ±2.9 45.9 ±7.9
Iraq 483.9 ±7.6 41.1 ±9.0 Thailand 1,779.8 ±35.5 47.2 ±3.0
Ireland 32.9 ±0.7 47.1 ±3.2 Togo 72.3 ±1.6 42.3 ±9.9
Trinidad and
Isle of Man 122.1 ±3.9 tcm 46.4 ±0.4 472.9 ±14.6 tcm 48.5 ±0.0
Tobago
Israel 19.0 ±0.4 45.7 ±0.7 Tunisia 176.5 ±3.2 45.7 ±0.8
Italy 247.2 ±7.3 46.9 ±1.9 Turkey 1,545.8 ±49.7 45.0 ±2.8
Jamaica 3.4 ±0.1 47.7 ±0.3 Turkmenistan 472.3 ±9.2 41.1 ±7.6
Japan 470.5 ±8.8 47.8 ±1.1 Uganda 90.8 ±1.7 45.6 ±10.5
Jersey 21.9 ±0.8 tcm 45.0 ±0.0 Ukraine 491.0 ±24.2 45.6 ±2.1
Jordan 7.4 ±0.1 43.7 ±1.1 United Arab 458.8 ±11.5 tcm 45.2 ±0.3
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Emirates
United
Kazakhstan 565.4 ±11.0 44.7 ±4.3 165.6 ±4.0 47.3 ±0.5
Kingdom
Kenya 223.6 ±3.4 46.1 ±3.7 United States 21,062.4 ±416.9 46.6 ±2.2
Kosovo 6.7 ±0.3 46.1 ±0.2 Uruguay 395.6 ±8.2 46.8 ±4.2
Kuwait 278.0 ±5.4 tcm 41.4 ±0.0 Uzbekistan 498.9 ±8.7 44.1 ±2.6
Kyrgyzstan 97.2 ±3.4 44.9 ±4.2 Venezuela 896.7 ±30.2 46.3 ±7.3
Laos 566.8 ±9.8 47.6 ±5.3 Vietnam 1,564.5 ±29.0 47.3 ±3.3
Western
Latvia 28.7 ±1.6 47.3 ±0.2 114.0 ±1.9 tcm 42.5 ±0.2
Sahara
Lebanon 7.8 ±0.1 45.5 ±0.3 Yemen 7.1 ±0.2 46.6 ±0.7
Lesotho 42.5 ±1.0 45.7 ±0.4 Zambia 485.6 ±10.2 45.1 ±2.4
Liberia 26.6 ±0.5 48.1 ±0.0 Zimbabwe 1,023.6 ±24.4 46.0 ±1.7
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