China to build world’s biggest floating solar project

• 6 years ago (2017-12-11)
• David Flin

Asia 859 Solar 249

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A unit of China Three Gorges Corporation has announced that it will construct a $151 million floating solar power plant, the largest in the world, in the Chinese province of Anhui. China Three Gorges New Energy Co. has, according to a statement, started building the 150 MW project, with part of it already having been connected to the grid.

The project features panels fixed to floats on the surface of a lake that formed after a coal mine collapsed. The entire facility is scheduled to come online by May 2018.

Floating solar is increasingly growing in China, where ground-mounted projects are not being used to full capacity because of grid congestion. According to data from the National Energy Administration, about 5.6 per cent of solar power generation was idled in the first three quarters of 2017.

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the previous largest commissioned floating solar power project was a 40 MW farm by Sungrow Power Supply Co in the same province.