REGlobal hosted its 3rd annual conference on Floating Solar in Europe at Novotel Schiphol Airport Amsterdam on March 18-19, 2026. This article presents the key learnings from the deliberations at the conference with respect to the challenges and opportunities. It also highlights the key recommendations from leading floating solar experts on important aspects like development, construction, and operations of such projects.
Solar on water or floating solar is attractive because it allows large-scale solar deployment in land-scarce regions and improves energy system efficiency. However, development of floating solar projects depends on societal acceptance, environmental and ecological studies, system reliability and risk management, as well as cost reductions and financial support. Further, continued pilot projects and demonstrations are also important for boosting floating solar.
Europe has ambitious solar targets (up to 600 GW solar by 2030) and there is a need for new deployment forms such as agri-solar, floating solar, and building-integrated PV. Main barriers hampering rapid floating solar deployment in Europe include complex and slow permitting processes, high costs and financing challenges and knowledge gaps with respect to risks and environmental impacts. These can be resolved by simplifying and clarifying permitting frameworks, supporting hybrid systems as well as promoting pilots and training.
Experience in the Netherlands
The Netherlands will need tremendous amounts of solar energy by 2050, requiring large surface areas for solar PV installations, which cannot be met by land alone. Therefore, inland water and offshore areas are important locations for solar deployment. Scenario studies suggest: 20–25 GWp solar on inland water and 30–50 GWp offshore solar.
For this reason, government land and water are also being explored for solar deployment. Key bottlenecks include existing uses (dredging depots, locks, water buffers), public interests (safety, environment, navigation), and stakeholder conflicts (fishermen, swimmers, infrastructure)
Case studies show that projects on government facilities can succeed if carefully designed. Floating solar on public water is feasible but requires strict safety, environmental, and regulatory compliance along with stakeholder coordination. Swimming safety and environmental limits like maintaining 25 per cent light on water become important in this respect.
Key Considerations for Different Phases of Floating Solar Project
Project development
Floating PV projects succeed when integrated with local energy systems and when strong feasibility analysis is done, which makes it very important to do efficient pre-development work. Quality feasibility studies and energy modeling are essential for efficient design and operations of the project. A key learning from various projects is that local offtake of generated solar power helps improve business case especially in the context of current grid congestion scenario.
There is a wide variation in policy and zoning plans across different markets, and thus, cooperation with large energy consumers as well as local municipal bodies is important for the project to succeed. Anchoring, cable management, and system monitoring need to be prioritised while planning floating solar projects. Further, integration with batteries and energy management systems can be considered for optimised project performance and better returns.
Design and EPC
Successful floating PV projects depend on site-specific design, proper technology selection, and experienced EPC execution. It is of vital importance to ensure that the technology matches the site conditions (basins vs. large lakes). Further, anchoring, mooring, cable routing, and environmental loads are important considerations for designing of floating solar projects. In the case of basins, lightweight HDPE floating structures are preferred with a flexible layout. On the other hand, in the case of large lakes a combination of HDPE and metal substructures would be more suitable with reinforced anchoring and mooring.
Floating solar structures at sea behave like interconnected floating systems (like floating ports or oil platforms), where connections between floaters, mooring systems, and dynamic power cables experience heavy loads. Experience from floating wind energy, particularly dynamic power cables, is also relevant to offshore solar development. The conclusion is that although nearshore and offshore floating solar are hydrodynamically challenging, continued research and innovation show strong potential for future development. Improvements are required in fundamental research and understanding, optimising floater geometry, using floating breakwaters to reduce wave impact and increasing spacing between floating units.
Floating substructures are the major contributors to the cost of floating solar projects with a share of 30 to 40 per cent in the total EPC cost. Roughly, 20-25 per cent of the EPC cost is contributed by PV modules followed by assembly with a 10 to 20 per cent share as well as anchoring and mooring with a 5 to 15 per cent share.
Operations and Maintenance
Efficient floating PV systems depend on smart design choices that improve accessibility, durability, and modularity, reducing long-term maintenance costs. For efficient O&M, maintenance considerations must be integrated right from the design stage. including safe access, modular layouts and protected electrical components. Safe access, for instance, helps reduce maintenance effort and intervention time.
Similarly, modular systems allow targeted replacement of components without affecting surrounding structures. Meanwhile, protected electrical components and durable materials help prevent failures. In addition, maintenance procedures must be clearly defined from the start to simplify routine O&M tasks.
Moving Towards Hybridisation
Combining floating solar with other energy systems like wind, energy storage and hydropower helps improves project economics and efficiency. Key benefits of hybrid systems include cost reduction through shared infrastructure, decreased curtailment, and better grid utilisation. Hybrid systems help projects participate more effectively in balancing markets, and if energy storage is brought into the mix, then revenues can be maximised. Permitting processes can also be made easier for hybrid systems in some cases, along with optimised design and operation of assets. Various case studies show increased revenue and improved performance when combining floating solar with wind and batteries.
Prospects for Offshore Solar
From a grid perspective, there are clear benefits in integrating offshore solar with offshore wind as offshore solar complements wind generation profile, and thereby, improves cable utilisation and grid stability. Increased costs of development have led to a decline in offshore wind tender activity, and now, system integration is becoming more important to support the grid.
However, this integration of offshore solar and offshore wind is quite challenging due to complex business cases posing regulatory limitations. For instance, in the Netherlands, it is possible for one consortium to be responsible for offshore wind and solar. Meanwhile, separate connection for offshore wind and offshore solar or two companies on one connection is not possible as of today. Offshore solar development can be looked at in a holistic way instead of separate, for now, for better synergies and easier permitting.
Offshore solar has massive potential, but supply chain maturity and industrial readiness remain key challenges. Going forward, like offshore wind, costs are expected to fall in the case of offshore solar as industry scales. Hybrid systems and standardisation are the key focus areas for sustained growth of this nascent sector.
Outlook
In conclusion, design, anchoring, and maintenance continue to be the major technical considerations for floating solar systems, with significant innovation expected to take place in these areas to improve cost efficiency and reliability of these projects. Although, it is widely accepted that synergies in the form of grid efficiency and effective resource utilisation can be realised with hybrid energy systems, deployment is hampered due to absence of an enabling policy environment.
Going forward, market barriers in terms of costs and supply chains are expected to ease up as technology matures and land availability concerns increase – leading to greater uptake of floating solar throughout Europe.
REGlobal is organising the 3rd edition of its Floating Solar in US conference on July 22, 2026 in New York City. To know more about this conference, click here.