Giuseppe Pio Costa
Numerical models to evaluate the hydraulic compatibility of RES plants
Numerical models to evaluate the hydraulic compatibility of RES plants
Abstract della ricerca
Numerical models to evaluate the hydraulic compatibility of RES plants
Background nella ricerca
Photovoltaic farms in peri-urban and rural areas are spreading all around the world. The presence of photovoltaic panels can cause several effects on the environment matrixes (i.e., soil, water, air, vegetation), mainly due to the shield-like effect that panels exert against both sunrays and rainfall. Often, such installations produce a decrease in the soil temperature and potential evapotranspiration, whereas an increase can be observed in the soil moisture, bringing to better growing conditions for the vegetation, especially in arid climate areas. Moreover, panels induce a spatio-temporal redistribution of the rainfall, which can lead to a less homogeneous distribution of the rainfall on the ground, and to the reduction of distributed erosion and sealing of the soil at the plant scale. Right now, it is not well understood whether the panels cause modification of flood propagation and, thus, a greater hazard downstream the installation area, as well as whether their presence imply more localised erosion below the panel lowest boarder.
Obiettivi della ricerca
Ongoing research aims to develop a comprehensive methodology able to address the best design practices, including eventual mitigation measures, that ensure the hydraulic compatibility between photovoltaic plants and both runoff waters and the local hydraulic network, meeting all the regulation constraints in the meantime.
Metodi
Starting from a catalogue of case studies in Sicily, provided by the contribution of the co-financing company E-Prima, it is investigated how different slopes, land use, hydrological features and other environmental conditions influence the interaction between solar farms and runoff process.
In addition, coupling numerical models with field measurements, more reliable models can be created. These can be useful to better analyse runoff initialization and propagation process, and to compare different solutions to mitigate hydraulic related impacts.
Risultati
Currently, the main outcome is the definition of guidelines, which allow to state the hydraulic compatibility of solar farms depending on the local morphological, hydrological, and environmental features at the plant, by mainly using HEC-RAS numerical model.
Given the limits about the correct identification of the runoff coefficient and representation of PV panels in numerical models, CFD models have been implemented to better reproduce the variation in the concentration time and runoff volume due to the panel presence.