Floating Solar Island

The United Arab Emirates has just contracted with a Swiss firm, CSEM, to purchase a floating solar island. The island, which will basically float on a ring-shaped raft, was conceptualized a while ago by CSEM, but until now they haven't found any buyers. The prototype being comissioned by the UAE will first be tested in a nearby desert before the concept is moved onto the ocean. This 100 meter wide structure will cost $5 Million and could generate roughly 1 megawatt.

The plant will produce energy by concentrating solar power onto pipes containing water. The water will boil, and be used to spin turbines. Once shipped off-shore, the islands could be used to convert seawater to hydrogen, allowing them to be autonomous and untethered to the shore. The hydrogen could be picked up by barges, instead of having to transport the electricity to shore via a physical connection. Link

This pilot project is being designed mostly to test the feasibility of the solar islands; CSEM says that the islands so far look like they will be cost-effective as long as they are deployed in areas with more than 350 days of sunlight that are near the equator. That's a lot of sunlight, but the area of the coast of the UAE fits the bill. Of course, it's also necessary for the structures to be able to survive a serious storm either by motoring to shore to avoid it, or being resilient enough to live through it.