China - October 21, 2024

China's wave-resistant floating photovoltaic platform enters experimental phase

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Floating off the coast of the Shandong Peninsula in the Yellow Sea, an enormous hexagon covered in 434 solar panels is nearly ready to begin testing operations.

It's China's first wave-resistant offshore photovoltaic platform called Yellow Sea No. 1 and its set to begin a year-long data collection experiment.

The platform sits about eight meters from the surface of the water, its truss supported by a ring of buoys that are anchored to the seabed more than 30 meters below.

The elevated platform helps protect the panels from seawater, engineers said.

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Bi Cheng, Engineer, "Yellow Sea No. 1" photovoltaic platform project:

"When the waves come into contact with the photovoltaic panels, salt crystals will form, which will affect the efficiency of photoelectric conversion. In addition, seawater will corrode our photovoltaic components and electrical systems. Therefore, our entire platform is raised to a higher level above the sea, so that even under sea conditions unseen in 50 years, the waves will not come into contact with our photovoltaic panels."

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Project engineers say data from the one-year testing phase will be used to develop a cluster of offshore photovoltaic platforms that will be combined with offshore wind power in the future.

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Nan Mingjun, Project manager, "Yellow Sea No. 1" photovoltaic platform project:

"The project adopts a development model absorbing wind and solar energy simultaneously. Having wind and solar power complementing each other makes power generation more stable. Power transmission sharing and joint operation and maintenance can further save costs. More importantly, it can improve the utilization rate of the ocean. The platform can not only help us optimize the energy structure, but also further promote the realization of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals."

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According to data from the Global Wind Energy Council, the international body that represents the wind industry, China was the 2023 world leader in new offshore wind projects having commissioned roughly 71 percent of the global total.

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