China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), in collaboration with Shandong Province and Qingdao Municipality, has successfully launched the country’s first commercial floating offshore photovoltaic (PV) project in a full-seawater environment. This marks a significant milestone for Sinopec, as the project is integrated with an earlier pile-based floating PV system, making it the largest floating PV power station developed by the company.
The project is expected to generate 16.7 million kilowatt-hours of green electricity annually, while reducing carbon emissions by 14,000 tons. As a pioneering initiative, the project is aimed at advancing the adoption of floating photovoltaic systems in coastal and shallow sea areas with full-seawater environments.
Spanning an area of 60,000 square meters, the floating PV station has an installed capacity of 7.5 megawatts. Its innovative design optimizes space usage by utilizing the seawater surface, ensuring zero emissions, high efficiency, and low costs. The system’s structure is engineered to adjust to tidal changes, reducing the distance between the photovoltaic panels and the water’s surface to about one-tenth of traditional pile-based systems. This unique feature enhances seawater cooling, boosting power generation efficiency by 5-8%.
Sinopec has addressed the challenges of deploying PV technology in seawater environments through three key innovations:
Durable Design: The floats and supports are specially designed to resist salt mist corrosion and barnacle growth.
Robust Anchoring System: The system is built to withstand wind speeds of up to level 13 and tidal variations of 3.5 meters, reducing investment costs by about 10% compared to conventional pile-based PV systems.
Improved Maintenance Access: A streamlined pathway for inspecting panels and cables near the water’s surface enhances safety and reduces maintenance costs.
This project also complements Sinopec’s other green energy initiatives, such as the country’s first carbon-neutral hydrogen refueling station and industrial-scale seawater hydrogen production. Serving as a crucial component in Sinopec’s new energy chain, the floating PV project lays the foundation for the production of green hydrogen using PV-generated electricity. Looking ahead, Sinopec plans to further expand its floating PV capabilities with a 23-megawatt project to enhance its green energy supply.
