A 200MW solar park floats on top of a fish farm in China

An impressive application of solar panels

An impressive application of solar panels

Located in Cixi, Zhejiang province, China’s largest solar power station at a fishery site was officially connected to the grid on January 11, 2017. The solar panels were installed on the surface of the Zhouxiang and Changhe reservoirs in eastern China, roughly 150 km south of Shanghai. Having a total capacity of 200MW, the project is expected to annually generate about 220 GWh of electricity, enough to cover the needs of 100,000 homes and negating the need to burn 7,4 tns of coal instead. 

The PV power plant, whose construction started in late June of last year and was completed in December, covers an area of 300 hectares, being considerably larger than a similar 120 MW project which was completed last May in Poyang county, Jiangxi province. The panels were placed far apart from one another, in order to allow enough sunlight to penetrate the water, which is critical for the growth of the fish beneath the surface. The laying of 14.29 km (8.88 miles) of power cables was required for the operation of the floating solar park. The local division of the State Grid Corp of China (SGCC) power utility supported the project by building two new 110-kV booster stations. 

The scheme, which cost approximately 1.8 billion ¥ ($ 260 million), was funded by the local company Hangzhou Fengling. The system will pay for itself in seven to eight years, considering the annual income of 240 million ¥ ($ 35 million) from selling the generated power to the state grid and the additional 13 million ¥ ($ 2 million) per year which will be earned through the fishery.

Source: PV- magazine

Photo source: People's Daily 

Photo source: People's Daily 

 Photo source: People's Daily

 Photo source: People's Daily

 Photo Source: China Daily