AsiaSustainable materials solutions provider, Archwey, through its subsidiary PlasticBean, announced the strategic partnership with EDPR Sunseap, a Singapore clean energy solutions provider. Both parties will work on a master plan to promote using pontoons made from recycled material BLUEWAVE® to support floating solar farms construction.
Alongside the acceleration of urbanization worldwide, ideal land resources for ground-mounted solar farms, especially those large-scale ones, are increasingly scarce. While floating solar farms built on water bodies such as lakes, reservoirs, etc., open up a new world for solar deployment. Combined with the cooling effect associated with water, solar panels on these farms can be more efficient than those traditional land-based panels. Plus, aquavoltaics, the dual use of water resources, has been proven to bring win-win results for both industries.
However, the majority of floating solar has been constructed using 100% virgin plastic pontoons derived from oil, posing a severe environmental pollution risk for our planet—even though producing clean energy for humans. But this issue has yet to gain enough traction from the public or private sectors.
Virgin plastic, made using oil, is one of the planet's biggest pollutants. Less than 9% of all plastic produced is recycled. That's over 364 million tonnes of plastic being thrown away every year.
—said Sjoerd Fauser, CEO of Archwey.
"Using virgin plastic in the skeleton frame construction of renewable energy farms defeats the purpose - taking precious fossil fuels from the planet while aiming to reduce its dependency on oil."
Archwey's thermoplastic BLUEWAVE® material uses plastic waste collected at riverbanks and coastal areas in polluted regions around the globe. According to the company, BLUEWAVE® is GRS-certified and 100% recycled and recyclable. It not only helps remove waste and prevent consuming more oil but also generates less GHG emissions during manufacturing.
Using pontoons manufactured with 100% recycled and recyclable material becomes increasingly important in strengthening the environmental friendliness of floating projects, and in decarbonizing the solar industry value chain as a whole.
The partnership with EDPR Sunseap forms a solid force to advocate using recycled plastic products, and call for comprehensive evaluations of floating solar projects' sustainability.
Archwey has recycled 32,500 tonnes of plastic waste to create innovative materials within the past 18 months. It set a goal to recycle and clean 65,000 tonnes by the end of 2023.
