China’s floating solar plant left behind floating farms in India and Australia
The largest floating solar power plant in the world just officially went operational in China. The floating termed as the Chinese government’s latest achievement in its ongoing effort to lead the world in renewable energy adoption.
Floating plant is Located in the city of Huainan, Chinese province Anhui, an area famous for its coal-rich land. The system has a power output capacity of 40 megawatts, which isn’t huge by today’s standards, but was just a decade ago.
Floating solar farm built by Sungrow, a supplier of PV inverter systems, the 40MW plant is now afloat in water four to 10 meters deep and successfully linked to Huainan, China’s grid.
The floating solar plant is overtaking other floating farms in India and Australia. By placing the solar panels on water, the cooler air at the surface helps to minimize the risk of the panels overheating and decreasing in performance.
One of the professionals from the local government explains the ‘the plant in Huainan not only makes full use of this area, reducing the demand for land, but also improves generation due to the cooling effects of the surface.’
Floating solar farms have several advantages, not the least of which is they don’t use up valuable land in densely populated areas. China has over 100 cities with populations of more than 1 million. The US, by comparison has 10.
An annual report released by NASA and NOAA determined that last three years have set horrifying temperature records. The future of humanity is directly tied to the future of renewables.
Fortunately, innovations like the floating solar plant prove that there are almost endless ways to approach the problem in a practical, effective way.