Give a hydropower reservoir a second source of energy.
A reservoir is more than a store of water. At Banja, circular floating platforms carry photovoltaic panels beside an operating hydropower plant.
AL AlbaniaIn practice. Statkraft announced completion of the 2 MWp research-and-development installation in March 2023. The technology comes from Norway’s Ocean Sun, with Albanian contractor Doko involved in delivery.
What to keep in view
Rated capacity is not continuous output. Long-term yield, mooring reliability and local ecological effects need site-specific evidence.
Share the site, not just the view
Banja’s floating installation consists of four circular units supporting solar panels on membranes at the water surface. Statkraft built the project at its Albanian hydropower reservoir using Ocean Sun technology. The complete installation has a rated peak capacity of 2 MWp.
The first unit in the completed configuration operated from April 2022, with the remaining three commissioned that December. Statkraft’s March 2023 announcement describes the installation as an R&D plant. Its expected annual generation is a forecast, not a published measurement of every subsequent year.
Design for the reservoir’s real behaviour
Putting solar generation on an existing energy site can connect a new technology to established infrastructure. But a reservoir is a moving setting: changing water levels, wind, anchoring and maintenance access all belong in the design.
This is an Albanian application of a Norwegian technology, delivered through cross-border collaboration. Its interest lies in that combination and in the practical lessons of operating the system, rather than in a claim that floating solar suits every lake.
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