When I started covering the solar industry, the largest solar power project in the world had 100 megawatts (MW) of power capacity. This month, the largest offshore solar PV project build in the open sea (not a lake) was deployed, and it’s rated at 1,000 MW, or one gigawatt.
Naturally, this project was not built in the United States, but in China. The offshore solar PV project was built off the coast of Dongying in the Yellow Sea.
The HG14 offshore solar PV project was developed by Guohua Investment under China Energy Investment Corp. (CHN Energy). It’s in shallow water 8 kilometers off the shore, covering 1,223 hectares, with electricity transferred to shore via a 66 kV subsea cable system. “A co-located 100 MW/200 MWh energy storage system enhances grid stability and dispatch flexibility,” pv magazine writes. “The transmission design is reported to increase capacity by 20% while reducing unit costs by 15%.”
The massive offshore solar power project required CNY 8.1 billion ($1.16 billion) of investment.
Here are some more stats and facts on the project:
Overall, it’s a very forward thinking, progressive, efficient, money saving, intelligent clean energy project. I was tempted to bring in the context of why a country led by a Homer Simpson type of idiot or a selfish, narrow-minded, greedy Mr. Burns — or some combination of the two — is not the country leading the world with such a deployment, but I better just not write about that and end the story there.
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Zach is tryin’ to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about electric vehicles and renewable energy at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao.
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