China’s first pile-mounted offshore photovoltaic power project, developed by China General Nuclear Power Group, started supplying the grid with electricity today.

The 400-megawatt solar farm, which covers an area of 512.7 hectares, is located in Laizhou Bay, near Zhaoyuan in eastern Shandong province. It stretches from between two kilometers and six km from the shore. The electricity generated is sent to land using 16 sets of 36-kilovolt undersea cables which are connected to a 220-kV onshore substation.

"The project is expected to generate about 694 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year,” said Zhang Zhiwu, chairman of CGN New Energy Holdings. “This is equivalent to reducing coal consumption by 208,700 tons and cutting greenhouse emissions by 535,800 tons a year, which is similar to planting 1,562 hectares of forest."

Building a solar farm at sea comes with many challenges. The ocean environment has salty air, high humidity, strong winds and powerful currents, all of which demand corrosion-resistant photovoltaic module materials with strong structural properties and a stable operating system.

To tackle these issues, Shenzhen-based CGN linked arms with industry partners to develop China's first batch of ocean-ready solar panels using heterojunction N-type monocrystalline silicon with a double-glass design. These panels have a PV conversion efficiency of 22.8 percent, pushing the boundaries of offshore solar technology.

Shandong is actively developing new and renewable energy, said Meng Fanzhi, deputy director of the province’s Energy Administration. The province is simultaneously developing both land and sea resources, and is speeding up efforts to build large-scale clean energy bases.