13/05/2026
Some marine development;-)
China is building floating solar farms in the middle of the South China Sea — taking the technology that began on inland reservoirs into open ocean waters of extraordinary scale and ambition.
China's floating solar industry has progressed through three distinct phases in under a decade. The first phase — small installations on calm inland lakes and irrigation reservoirs — established the basic technology and demonstrated commercial viability. The second phase — large-scale installations on flooded coal mining lakes and hydroelectric reservoirs — proved that the technology could operate at hundreds of megawatts scale. The third phase — now beginning — takes floating solar into open coastal and offshore marine environments where the resource is larger, the engineering challenge is greater, and the potential scale is virtually unlimited.
The South China Sea represents the most ambitious frontier for Chinese marine floating solar. The sea offers enormous water surface, intense solar radiation at low latitudes, and proximity to the coastal provinces that consume the majority of Chinese electricity. China National Offshore Oil Corporation — CNOOC — has announced plans to integrate floating solar arrays with its existing offshore oil and gas platform infrastructure, using the platforms' grid connections to transmit solar-generated electricity to shore while the platforms remain in operation.
Chinese floating solar manufacturers including Sungrow, Ciel & Terre China, and Hangzhou Xinpeng are developing marine-grade floating platforms using high-density polyethylene and fibre-reinforced polymer materials rated for indefinite saltwater immersion, with anchoring systems designed for water depths up to 100 metres. The technical challenges of the South China Sea — typhoon-force winds, three-metre wave heights, and high humidity — are being addressed through accelerated testing at the National Solar Energy Centre's marine environment simulation facility in Qingdao.
China took floating solar from lakes to oceans. The ocean is bigger.
Source: China National Energy Administration (NEA) & CNOOC, 2024