China is to build the world’s biggest floating solar power plant to reduce the country’s consumption of fossil fuels and improve air quality as part of its war on pollution. The £113 million project has been funded by China Three Gorges Corporation, and is scheduled to be operational in eastern Anhui province from May. The company claimed that it would produce 150 megawatts, enough to power more than 50,000 homes, as the country makes a big drive towards floating solar farms, which can be installed without using up valuable agricultural land. The panels also help to prevent the evaporation of surface water. Following shutdowns and the relocation of coal-fired plants in recent years, the giant solar farm is the latest measure in the country’s efforts to move away from its reliance on polluting coal power. According to state media about 72 per cent of China’s energy comes from coal. China Three Gorges Corporation, one of 400 solar power companies in the country, said that the power generated by the new plant would save almost 200,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. It added that the plant would be located in a lake that formed after a coal mine collapsed. Anhui is already home to a 40-megawatt solar panel farm run by Sungrow Power Supply which was previously the country’s largest of its kind. The news was hailed by state media as another demonstration of China’s green credentials and as an element of a war on pollution declared in 2014, to tackle the country’s environmental problems, including chronic air pollution in cities and toxic rivers.
Times 13th Dec 2017 read more »
