The increasing global demand for electricity has led to a significant increase in the search for low-impact alternative sources, with solar photovoltaic being identified as one of the most feasible options. However, photovoltaic power plants require large ground areas, which represent a major constraint. If the panels are installed on water bodies, this restriction may be avoided. In this work, a simulation was performed to assess the potential of floating photovoltaic power generation in the tropical Gavião reservoir, located in the Northeast of Brazil. A payback analysis indicated that the investment in construction of the system is fully recovered in eight years, and that water losses due to evaporation can be reduced by approximately 2.6 × 10⁶ m³/year, sufficient to supply roughly 50,000 people.

The potential effects of climatic changes on water resources are crucial to be assessed, particularly in dry regions such as north-east Brazil (1 million km²), where water supply is highly reliant on open-water reservoirs. This study analyses the impact of evaporation (by the Penman method) on water availability for four scenarios based on two regional climatic models (Eta-CanESM2 and Eta-MIROC5) using the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5. We compared the water availability in the period of 2071–2100 with that of the historical period (1961–2005). The scenarios derived from the Eta-CanESM2 model indicate an increase in the dry-season evaporative rate (2 % and 6 %, respectively) by the end of the century. Unlike the above scenarios, the ones derived from the Eta-MIROC5 model both show a change in the dry-season evaporative rate of −2 %. Consequently, for a 90 % reliability level, the expected reservoir capacity to supply water with high reliability is reduced by 80 %. It is reasonable to state that both patterns of future evaporation in the reservoirs may prove to be plausible. Because model-based projections of climate impact on water resources can be quite divergent, it is necessary to develop adaptations that do not need quantitative projections of changes in hydrological variables but rather ranges of projected values. Our analysis shows how open-water reservoirs might be impacted by climate change in dry regions. These findings complement a body of knowledge on the estimation of water availability in a changing climate and provide new data on and insights into water management in reservoir-dependent drylands.