Floating solar panels on reservoirs could produce three times as much electricity as the entire EU, a new study has shown.

Solar panels are one of the cheapest and most efficient ways of generating electricity but they also take up a lot of space.

Innovative schemes have seen them attached to car parks, trash heaps, and farms. Now, researchers are urging governments to invest in floating solar.

According to a study published in the journal Nature, covering 30 per cent of the surface of the world’s 115,000 reservoirs with solar could generate 9,434 terawatt hours of power annually.

That’s more than triple the energy production of the EU, which reached 2,785.44 terawatt hours in 2021.