The World’s Largest Floating Solar Power Plant Just Opened in a Flooded Coal Mining Are

The world’s largest floating solar power plant was recently connected to the local power grid in Huainan, China. The 40-megawatt facility was installed by Sungrow Power Supply on an area that was flooded due to coal mining operations in the region.

According to Digital Trends, ‘these floating apparatuses free up land in more populated areas and also reduce water evaporation’; while the ‘cooler air at the surface also helps to minimize the risk of solar cell performance atrophy, which is often related to long-term exposure to warmer temperatures’. [source]

PV Tech also adds that the floating plant is located on flooded land with the depth of water ranging from 4 to 10 meters and that a 20MW floating system in the same region had been the largest operating since early 2016. [source]