China’s first million-kilowatt level offshore photovoltaic project was successfully connected to the national power grid, according to China Energy on Wednesday.
Located in the offshore area eight kilometers from Dongying City of Shandong Province, the one-million-kilowatt offshore photovoltaic project has seen the completion of the first 300 photovoltaic platforms, arranged in five rows extending towards the deep sea. Each platform measures 60 meters in length and 35 meters in width, equivalent to the size of five standard basketball courts. The entire project will require the installation of 2,934 such photovoltaic platforms.
This project is currently the largest open-sea offshore photovoltaic project in China, covering an area of approximately 1,223 hectares. It is the first project to apply 66-kilovolt undersea cables and long-distance land cables to offer greater transmission capacity at lower costs.
"Once fully connected to the grid, the annual power generation is estimated to reach 1.78 billion kilowatt-hours, roughly meeting the annual electricity consumption of 2.67 million urban residents in China, saving approximately 503,800 tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.347 million tons," said Wang Lin, project manager of Shandong Kenli Project.
In contrast to traditional land-based photovoltaic farms where solar panels are typically assembled on-site, offshore photovoltaic farms require a unique approach. The initial assembly phase for offshore installations begins on land. Here, workers meticulously assemble both the solar panels and their supporting structures before transporting the entire unit to the site using tugboats. Once on location, the solar panels are then carefully lifted and mounted onto four pre-installed steel piles, ensuring the stability and functionality of the offshore photovoltaic array.
While only two meters of the steel piles are above the water surface, approximately 23 meters are submerged below, with 17 meters anchored into the seabed. The piles are coated with a special anti-corrosion primer, ensuring a lifespan of over 30 years. Moreover, the platform can withstand strong winds and sea ice as thick as 25 centimeters.
All the photovoltaic panels in this project face south, with a precisely calibrated tilt angle of 15 degrees. This angle maximizes the panels' exposure to sunlight. These double-sided panels not only capture direct sunlight from above but also utilize light reflected from the sea surface. This design enhances the power generation of each panel by around three percent.
China's first MW-level offshore PV farm successfully connected to grid
China's first MW-level offshore PV farm successfully connected to grid
East China's Jiangsu Province has emerged as a leading driver of China's economic growth and innovation, serving as an exemplary model for upgrading manufacturing and cultivating talent to meet evolving global demands, an economist said Thursday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged Jiangsu to play a major role in the country's overall development, calling on it to take the lead in integrating technological and industrial innovation, advancing in-depth reform and high-standard opening up, and implementing major national development strategies as the province strives to set an example in pursuing common prosperity.
The president's message came as data confirmed Jiangsu's GDP grew by an impressive 5.8 percent in 2024, outpacing the national average by 0.8 percent, cementing its position as a key driver of China's economic engine.
Shi Jiao, an associate professor at Peking University HSBC Business School, noted that Jiangsu has long been a leader in China's economic development, praising the province's robust development model.
"Jiangsu was a traditional manufacturing base. It's one of the regions that was open to the world among Chinese provinces in early time, so right now it accounts for ten percent of Chinese GDP. What Jiangsu exemplified, I think it is a robust economic development model that's both rooted in a traditional strength in manufacturing that's being renewed and upgraded continuously, and also innovation. The power of talents creation and retention as well as entrepreneurship and openness. I think the most important point is that Jiangsu exemplifies all these great characteristics of the Chinese economy," she said.
The expert noted that Jiangsu is not unique in this regard, as China has many other regions with similar growth potential. She stressed the importance of applying the province's successful strategies nationwide as the country seeks to build up its productive forces.
"I think first of all, it's very important that Jiangsu as a manufacturing base continues to upgrade is manufacturing. The world is changing fast. The type of products Jiangsu used to produce is vastly different from what it producing right now. And all these are driven by relentless innovation and new technology, adoption of even faster, even more productive ways to produce. And also I think what's made Jiangsu very powerful is also that it has its own higher education system that has been critical to creating the type of talents that it needs," said Shi.
She also highlighted Jiangsu's integrated and balanced growth among its powerful cities, an accomplishment that other regions in the country seek to replicate.
"Finally, I think Jiangsu is very different in the sense that it has an integrated and balanced growth within the province, as well as with the Yangtze River Delta in general. Jiangsu has several very powerful cities that are complimentary to each other, whereas maybe in other regions in China we can, we see that there's inequality between the urban areas, between the leading city and the follower cities, (the gap) tends to be relatively larger. So I think all these aspects Jiangsu can be set as an example for the rest of the country," said the professor.
Expert hails Jiangsu's model role in driving China's economic development, innovation
