Sinopec commissions 7.5 MW sea-based floating PV project
Sinopec Qingdao Refining & Chemical, a subsidiary of energy and petrochemical group Sinopec, has officially commissioned a 7.5 MW floating PV (FPV) project, covering approximately 60,000 m2 in a seawater environment. This is said to be China’s first FPV system deployed for industrial operations in seawater. An additional 23 MW expansion is planned. The system uses tide-adaptive floating PV platforms, which the company says reduce the panel-to-water surface distance to about 1/10th of traditional pile-based installations. The system utilizes seawater cooling to improve energy yield by 5% to 8%. The power generated will supply Sinopec’s nearby seawater-based hydrogen production project at the same site.
Last year, Sinopec was one of a group of entities that set up China Resources Recycling Group Co., Ltd., which, among other things, also focuses on recycling decommissioned PV equipment (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
