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“This work presents the first functional validation of submerged solar cells.”
Photo Credit: iStock
Solar buildouts are reaching some unexpected frontiers: deep under ocean waters.
Off Weizhou Island on China’s southwestern coast, researchers generated electricity from sunlight at a depth of 10 meters — nearly 33 feet — helping to set a new benchmark for the technology.
Findings from the effort to test the efficacy of underwater solar panels were published in the journal Joule last month. 
As Euronews reported, the panel material used in the installation was nonstandard. Instead of the more typical silicon, the researchers used perovskites, described by Futurism as a calcium titanium oxide mineral.
Because blue and green wavelengths can penetrate the ocean’s surface, the cells were designed to capture that light.
“This work presents the first functional validation of submerged solar cells practically operating at a water depth of up to about 10 meters, greatly broadening their application scope,” study co-author Wen-Hua Zhang, a Yunnan University professor, said in a press release.
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Futurism pointed to how widely China is already deploying solar, citing panels “on the side of rainy mountains, on floating coastal platforms, and above bustling highways.” These examples highlight how aggressively developers are seeking new places to generate electricity.
Finding success with installing solar panels underwater opens up another possibility for crowded coastal regions, where land can be expensive and difficult to dedicate to large energy projects. If solar can work in more spaces, cities and companies could add clean power more flexibly, without competing as directly with housing, roads, or agriculture for land.
Expanding sources of local clean electricity could help reduce reliance on fuel-burning power plants. For households and businesses, this could mean a more diverse, resilient, economic energy supply, while nearby communities could also benefit from a reduction of the air pollution tied to conventional power generation.
These articles explore other ways solar may be moving into watery environments, from offshore waters to submerged settings:
• U.S. Navy researchers created a consistent self-polishing effect that could help underwater panels stay efficient.
• A Chinese energy company unveiled surface ocean solar platforms to generate power offshore.
• Researchers say floating solar near the equator could expand clean power for billions.
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