During the 25-year operating life cycle of the surface photovoltaic power station, the floating body needs to withstand severe environmental tests: such as long-term ultraviolet light irradiation, alternating loads of wind and waves, alternating high and low temperature changes, and various water quality such as microorganisms, pH, etc. In the face of the complex use environment of surface photovoltaic power plants, unified and standardized industry standards are the basic guarantee for the quality and service life of floating surface photovoltaic floating bodies, and also draw a red line for floating body suppliers. Industry standards such as “NB_T 10187-2019 Floating Body for Water Surface Photovoltaic System” and “T∕CPIA 0016-2019 High Density Polyethylene Floating Body for Water Surface Photovoltaic Power Generation System” stipulate the performance indicators of floating body materials. Aging, oxidation induction time, resistance to environmental stress cracking and other indicators are related to the service life of the floating body. Strict regulations are also made on the use of floating body materials: brand new materials must be used. The performance of the floating body material directly affects the service life and operation and maintenance safety of the surface photovoltaic power station. Strict compliance with industry standards, no doping of recycled materials, and no shoddy charging are the basic requirements for a qualified floating body supplier.

The new material does not contain impurities, and the material performance is excellent. In contrast, recycled or modified materials are not, and their performance is significantly lower than that of virgin materials. The main reasons include:

First, after the recycled material is sheared many times during the processing, the molecular chain of the material will be shortened, and the mechanical properties of the material will be greatly reduced.

Second, some recycled materials have been exposed to sunlight for a long time, and the molecular chain has been broken, and the material performance has dropped significantly.

Third, the source of recycled materials is unknown, which may come from medical waste, trash cans, waste trays, etc. They may have been made into various samples, which may contain heavy metals, toxic and hazardous substances, etc., and it is difficult to meet the environmental protection requirements in the specification.