CHN Energy of China has commissioned a 1 GW floating solar PV project in China as the world's largest offshore solar power plant
It integrates fish farming with solar PV generation, expected to serve as a model for other large-scale projects of this scale
The company recently also energized a 3 GW solar power plant in a coal mining subsidence area in China
China’s state-owned energy firm China Energy Group (CHN Energy) has grid-connected a 1 GW offshore floating solar power plant in China, calling it the world’s 1st and largest of its kind open-sea offshore solar PV project.
The company claims this is the 1st time in China’s PV sector that a 66-kV offshore cable has been paired with an onshore cable for high-capacity, long-distance transmission.
The offshore PV installation has come up 8 km off the eastern coast of Dongying City in China’s Kenli district in Shandong province. CHN Energy has put up 2,934 PV platforms installed using large-scale offshore steel truss platform fixed pile foundations. Each of these platforms measures 60 m in length and 35 m in width.
CHN built the project through its subsidiary Guohua Energy Investment Co., Ltd. It aims for this offshore PV plant to serve as a ‘model’ for the development of large-scale offshore PV projects in the industry.
The company shared that the project also integrates fish farming with PV generation to make maximum use of the marine area.
On completion, the 1 GW project is expected to generate 1.78 billion kWh annually. It will be equivalent to meeting the annual electricity needs of around 2.67 million urban residents in China.
Recently, the company also energized a 3 GW solar power plant, calling it China’s largest single-capacity PV power plant built in a coal mining subsidence area. It was grid-connected on November 5, 2024.
With over 5.9 million solar PV panels installed, the Mengxi Blue Ocean Photovoltaic Power Station is located in Otog Front Banner, Ordos, Inner Mongolia. It can generate 5.7 billion kWh of clean energy annually, enough to power 2 million households, according to CHN.
CHN Energy says this power station site hosts China’s 1st large-scale outdoor PV testing base in a Gobi Desert wasteland climate zone, thereby offering an effective model for large-scale solar development in such areas.
Additionally, it also marks the 1st large-scale use of new rare earth alloy grounding materials that the company says has contributed to lowering the project’s overall costs by 40%. It has also replaced steel instead of traditional concrete for solar panel foundations. This is aimed at reducing the impact on the grassland ecosystem.
A few days back, Hexa Renewables announced the commissioning of a 373 MW AC floating PV project in Taiwan and called it the world’s largest offshore floating solar power plant. Backed by I-Squared Capital, Hexa covered 347 hectares of land in Changhua County in Taiwan in 2 phases of 181 MW AC and 192 MW AC capacity.
In May 2024, TaiyangNews published its maiden market survey on floating PV technology that covers commercial products available in this space today. The Market Survey Floating PV 2024 is available for free download here.