The issue of water and energy crisis has been turned into the global matters which need to be tackled jointly. Accordingly, as a reliable solution, floating solar power plants, in which photovoltaic modules are used on the surface of water infrastructures such as reservoir dam, has recently been attracting much interest. In addition to energy generation, this system provides some additional advantages over the land-based system such as conserving the land and the water and increasing the efficiency of the modules. This study first comprehensively reviews the literature and then proposes a practical framework to evaluate the potential of using floating solar photovoltaic (FSPV) systems, taking important factors into account. To this end, as a specific application of the proposed framework, five important reservoir dams in Iran are selected, and the performance of the FSPV plant is analyzed in terms of energy generation, evaporation reduction, economic efficiency and environmental improvement factors considering different coverage percentages of reservoirs' surfaces. Based on the cost-benefit analysis, results show the FSPV outperforms other alternatives for energy generation and water-saving. It takes 5 -6 years for the investment cost to be returned. Given Iran's vast potential for solar radiation, and its huge energy demand and critical water situation, results indicate that Iran can effectively harness solar energy through FSPV systems which help conserve the water in addition to support sustainable energy production. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.