in the city of huainan, china, a mass of solar panels can be found floating on a mass of land that once used to be used mining. the floating solar plant is based in the south anhui province of china—an area famous for it’s coal-rich land. yet since the area is now flooded due to rainy weather and covered with water ranging from four to ten meters deep, the chinese government have been able to optimize the land to farm a much more sustainable energy source. sungrow—the global leading PV inverter system producer—has announced that the floating solar plant has just been connected to the grid, and can now start supplying solar energy to homes in the area.

 

the world's largest floating solar plant starts producing power in huainan, china
40 MW floating PV power plant

image courtesy of SUNGROW power supply co.

 

 

the 40-megawatt facility takes the title of the world’s largest floating solar plant, 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. the panels have been linked up a central inverter and combiner box, both supplied by sungrow and customized to work with floating power plants, made to be resistant to high levels of humidity and spray.

 

 

a professional 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.’ the new solar farm forms part of an ongoing initiative from the chinese govenment to rid the country of its bad reputation when it comes to energy consumption, making china the world leader in renewable energy production.