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China builds the world's largest floating solar plant and surprises the global renewable energy market. The project has more than 100 solar panels and the capacity to supply 15 mil housing.
Huainan, located in eastern China, is one of the major cities in the Hefei Metropolitan Circle. For decades, the region was recognized as an important coal production center. However, this scenario is changing radically due to the China's massive investment in clean energy sources. A notable example of this change is the Huainan floating solar plant, which has thousands of solar panels, representing one of the many initiatives aimed at sustainability in the area.
Largest floating solar plant in the world can supply 15 thousand homes
Considered the largest floating solar plant in the world, the work is truly fascinating both for its grandeur and the high technology used in the project. A Anhui province is located in eastern China in the Yangtze River Delta. On the one hand, the region is a cradle of Chinese prehistory and excavations have revealed fossils that confirm the presence of generations of people at the site.
The installation of the project in China was carried out in a lake and occupies 86 hectares, the size equivalent to 121 football fields. There are 165 thousand solar panels producing 40 MW, enough to supply around 15.000 homes.
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In China, clouds of dirt are common in urban centers. Considered the biggest polluter in the world, the country has faced serious consequences of this sad reality. One of them is that people are forced to stay at home for days to avoid further damage to their own health.
To reduce these harmful impacts, China is adopting a series of measures. Since 2003, the use of coal as a source of energy in the country has been decreasing year after year. Under the Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change signed in 2015, China committed to reducing carbon emissions as much as possible by 2030, in addition to expanding its renewable energy sources by 20%.
Largest floating solar plant in China receives million-dollar investment
The construction of the world's largest floating solar plant in Hainan is an essential arm of this strategy. Carrying out this Megaproject involved many studies and was inaugurated in 2017, at a cost of US$45 million.
The plant was installed offshore due to the fact that solar panels lose efficiency as the temperature increases. This happens with every electronic device. However, this does not happen in floating solar plants as the proximity to the waterline cools the modules, reducing the risk of overheating of the panels.
According to studies carried out, the gain in efficiency of the photovoltaic array in a floating plant varies from 5% to 15% in relation to a conventional solar plant. It turns out that Hainan is a hot and humid place and the project is located in a mining area that was flooded due to constant rain, reaching a water depth of between 4 and 10 m, that is, the permanent flooding made the area inoperable for years, as it would not be suitable for mining, for irrigation purposes and the water is also unsuitable, due to its high level of mineralization.
Understand how the fluctuation of solar panels works
One of the key factors in the success of any project is the ability to utilize existing resources more effectively. This is exactly what China did when choosing this area to build the largest floating solar plant in the world.
The solar panels used at the plant are supplied by Sungrow, a global leader in the manufacture of photovoltaic inverter systems. These panels have been specially designed to operate efficiently in high humidity environments. Building a floating solar plant requires the use of floats, structures that keep the solar panels above the water.
These floats need to be extremely resistant, considering that each photovoltaic panel can weigh up to 25 kg. There are currently several types of floats in use globally, including models made from fiberglass-reinforced plastics.
