In a major turn of events witnessed across the sustainable and smart technologies industry, the China Three Gorges Corp., has reportedly announced its plans to develop a CNY 1 billion floating solar power plant in the country. The 150MW floating solar plant in east China, is touted to be the largest of its kind across the globe.Situated in the eastern province of Anhui, the state-run Three Gorges group’s new energy unit is expected to be in full operation from May 2018.
For the record, the Three Gorges Group commenced the floating solar project in July and has built solar panels that are fixed to float on the surface of a lake, which according to sources, was formed after a coal mine collapsed. The floating solar technology is getting considerable traction in the region, as it doesn’t require land acquisition and provides greater cooling effect to the panels and cables through the water body. According to experts, the surging deployment of floating solar technology has significantly benefited the top floating solar panels industry players, as they have rather bright prospects in China’s solar sector.
Sources also reveal that prior to the construction of China’s Three Gorges Plant, the country’s previous largest project of about 40MW in capacity was built by Sungrow, which was also situated in the Anhui province.
According to analysts, China, one of the world’s major carbon emitter, is predicted to install a record number of solar-power projects this year, which in turn would prompt floating solar panel industry players to boost their production capacity and profitably tap the current lucrative opportunity. The chairman of Three Gorges Group, Lu Chun, was further quoted saying that the 1-billion-yuan solar project is a new experiment with a goal to cut the operation and construction cost of solar power plants in the region. This significant effort in lowering solar PV cost, according to experts, is likely to lock new growth prospects for floating solar panels market players.