Special Report on Offshore Photovoltaics: The Main Battlefield of the Floating Solar System, with Floating Bodies and Anchorage Links Most Benefiting

With the policy, photovoltaic solar systems welcome the moment of highlight. In the context of "dual carbon", coastal areas should increase the development of offshore new energy.

Driven by national policies, various coastal provinces in China actively respond to the Party Central Committee's goal of achieving "dual carbon" and gradually focus on developing the marine photovoltaic industry. 

The followings are the reasons.

1) The high electricity consumption in coastal areas and the development of new energy are limited by land resource constraints (centralized power stations involve land acquisition, and distributed photovoltaic contributions are insufficient).

2) Coastal provinces and cities are rich in marine resources, and the coordinated development of marine photovoltaics and marine wind power can effectively optimize investment costs (such as submarine cables and substation facilities).

3) Marine photovoltaic systems can also be combined with aquaculture to improve overall investment returns.

4) The power generation efficiency of ocean photovoltaic systems has a certain gain compared to ground photovoltaic systems under the same lighting conditions.

Shandong Province's offshore photovoltaic development is at the forefront.

In the past two years, Shandong Province has led the country in the development and construction of offshore photovoltaics. In December 2021, the Shandong Provincial Oceanic Administration issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Three-dimensional Use and Management of Photovoltaic Power Generation Sea Areas (Draft for Soliciting Opinions)", which stipulated the planning and project site selection, sea use approval and sea use rights confirmation. In April 2022, the Shandong Provincial Government released the "Shandong Province 2022 High-Quality Development Policy List (Second Batch)", implementing the policy of actively promoting offshore photovoltaic pilot demonstration. In March and July 2022, the Shandong Provincial Energy Bureau issued the "2022 Provincial Energy Work Guidance" and the "Shandong Provincial Offshore Photovoltaic Construction Project Action Plan" respectively. 

The latter pointed out that:
1) Building a technologically advanced, ecologically friendly, and intelligently integrated "Bohai Rim, Yellow Sea Rim" double million-kilowatt level offshore photovoltaic base. The "Bohai Rim" 10 million kilowatt offshore photovoltaic base has 31 offshore photovoltaic sites, with a total installed capacity of 19.3 million kilowatts. Among them, there are 20 photovoltaic sites with an installed capacity of 14.1 million kilowatts. There are 11 sites with a total installed capacity of 5.2 million kilowatts, which is known as "Fengguang Tongchang". The "Along the Yellow Sea" 10 million kilowatt offshore photovoltaic base has 26 offshore photovoltaic sites, with a total installed capacity of 22.7 million kilowatts. Among them, there are 9 photovoltaic sites with an installed capacity of 9.5 million kilowatts.

There are 17 sites with a total installed capacity of 13.2 million kilowatts, known as "Fengguang Tongchang".

2) We need to accelerate the development and construction of fixed offshore photovoltaics with pile foundations. By 2025, a total of approximately 13 million kilowatts of construction will have been started, and approximately 11 million kilowatts will have been completed and connected to the grid.

3) Actively and steadily promote the development of floating offshore photovoltaics, and strive to start construction of 2 million kilowatts and complete grid connection of 1 million kilowatts by 2025.

Offshore Photovoltaic Systems: The Main Battlefield of Floating Solar Systems
Surface photovoltaic power stations are divided into two categories: fixed pile foundation and floating type

Photovoltaic technology refers to a new type of power generation technology that directly converts solar energy into electrical energy. Usually, large-scale onshore photovoltaic projects require a significant amount of land area and land resources, while offshore photovoltaic power generation is a new energy utilization and resource development model that moves "photovoltaic power stations" from land to sea and uses photovoltaic technology to establish power stations in the ocean. It has the characteristics of high power generation, low land occupation, and easy integration with other industries.

Compared to onshore photovoltaics, marine photovoltaics have natural environmental advantages: open water surfaces without obstructions, longer sunlight, and sufficient utilization (reflected light from water surfaces), which can significantly increase power generation. Surface photovoltaic power stations are divided into two categories: fixed pile foundation and floating type. In general, if the water depth is less than 5m, pile driving frame height installation can be used, and floating installation can be used for water depths above 5m.