The World’s Largest Hybrid Fishery Firm in China is graced with 370,000 solar panels

As per International Standards, Bifacial solar panels allow the solar farm to harvest more power via sunlight reflecting off the water.

An ambitious fishery-solar farm hybrid project in China, represents an extremely efficient land utilization, as claimed by Beijing-based company Dajin Heavy Industry. The company said its project, based in Tangshan, Hebei Province, adopts a “power generation above, aquaculture below” model.

Dajin Heavy Industry’s Shilihai fishery-solar hybrid photovoltaic (PV) project spans approximately 353 hectares, the company revealed in its post. That is 353 hectares that might have otherwise taken up regular land, for the sole purpose of harvesting solar energy. Instead, the fishery-solar hybrid project features 370,000 bifacial solar panels above large stretches of fish ponds. Bifacial solar panels capture sunlight from both their back and front surfaces. This makes them ideal for placement above water, as the water’s surface reflects light onto the panel’s other side.

“The project is expected to generate approximately 400 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually, equivalent to saving 120,000 tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 320,000 tons, effectively improving local air quality”, Dajin Heavy Industry explained in its post. “Dajin’s portfolio expansion consolidates our role in enabling the global energy transition. We remain dedicated to spearheading innovations that shape a net-zero future”.

The fishery-solar hybrid system has several key advantages. This includes the ability of the solar panels to reduce the water temperature on hot sunny days by providing shade. This can effectively improve the metabolism of aquatic life and reduce the outbreak of aquaculture diseases. On top of this, the shade from the solar panels also reduces water surface evaporation and water loss.

As for the solar panels themselves, being placed above water boosts efficiency. According to an Environmental and Energy Study Institute report, water-based solar farms can be as much as 15% more efficient than terrestrial ones. This is down to the cooling impact of the water.

Dajin Heavy Industry isn’t the first company to build a hybrid fishery-solar farm. In 2022, Concord New Energy announced it had installed a 70 MW solar plant above a fish pond in an industrial park in Cangzhou, China’s Hebei region. Last month, Norwegian salmon and trout producer Emilsen Fisk announced that a floating solar power plant above its fisheries had reduced diesel use by 90%.

Team Maverick