China has deployed the world's largest open sea offshore solar panel farm. Imagine that. China has done this. So the first question is, we know how much China was investing in renewable energy. This kind of shows us what they've been up to. But also, how does that affect the ocean? Thinking about a panel that covers a large swath of the ocean, what does that do for the animals and the habitats that are below those solar panels?
There are some benefits to having solar panels in the ocean, and there are obviously some disadvantages to having it there. And we're going to talk about both on this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. Let's start the show. Hey everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
I am your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is the podcast where you find out what's happening with the ocean, how you can speak up for the ocean, what you can do to live for a better ocean by taking action. And today's episode, we're going to be talking about China and how they've essentially deployed the largest offshore open solar open sea, I guess, solar farm, solar panel farm. It is fantastic. We're going to talk all
about it. But before we do, I just want to let you know, if this is the first time you hear the second time you hear you just discovered this through threads or blue sky, you're one of my new followers. I want to thank you for joining us. This is your ocean resource to find out all about the latest news, the science, the conservation and what's happening in the ocean, how you can speak up
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There's lots of stuff, lots of goodies in there, bringing into call to action soon. So sign up, speakupforblue.com forward slash newsletter. Let's talk about this massive project off the coast of China. It's actually a one gigawatt offshore solar farm, the world's first and largest of its kind that goes right to the grid. It's China's CHN
Energy. that has connected the solar units. The project sits 8 kilometers, that's 5 miles for my American friends, off the coast and spans an impressive 1,223 hectares or 3,023 acres. and it uses about 2,900 solar platforms that rest on large-scale offshore steel truss foundations, each
platform measuring 60 meters or 197 feet by 35 meters or 115 feet. So it's the first time in China that a 66 kilovolt offshore cable paired with an onshore cable has been used for high-capacity, long-distance electricity transmission in the solar sector. Now, I am going to link this article that's on electric with a K, EK. to the show notes if you wanna know more about it. It's very technical from a renewable energy standpoint. But what I want to focus on is how is this beneficial? Why in
the ocean? And what's it gonna do to the environment? Like the stuff that's underneath. And so I think that's really kind of a cool question to ask. So I did a little bit of research. There's a couple of positive environmental impacts. So on like about the system and everything. So the systems utilize, so here's some energy, efficient land use. So essentially these systems utilize water bodies like reservoirs, lakes, and oceans, reducing the need for land clearing and habitat destruction
often associated with land-based solar farms. So that's a positive. It reduced evaporation. So by covering the water surface, these systems reduce evaporation rates, which can help conserve water in reservoirs and agricultural areas. Improved solar efficiency. The cooling effect of water reduces the temperature of solar panels, improving their efficiency compared to land-based systems. So that's another positive. Potential
for dual use. So the floating solar farms can coexist with hydroelectric facilities, optimizing energy production and utilizing an existing infrastructure. Reducing algal blooms. So by limiting the sunlight penetrating into the water of the solar panels covering it, these systems can help suppress algal blooms, which are harmful to aquatic systems, which is true. clean energy generation. It is like traditional solar farms. These systems provide renewable energy,
reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on fossil fuels. So the big impacts here is not using land, not clearing really critical habitats and avoiding habitat destruction on land so that you can do it in the ocean. Now with that said is how much of the habitats are you clearing in the ocean? It doesn't really mention it in the article that I was
reading. So that's one of the things that we're gonna talk about. Now let's get into, but like, sorry, just to continue on with the positive, reduction in algal blooms, that's great. Improved solar efficiency, that's obviously great for the functioning. Reduced evaporation, so reduced water evaporation, which I guess is great, but in the overall ocean or in a lake, a large lake, I'm not sure if that's going to be that much of a contribution, but anything that
helps will help greatly. And then, of course, it can coexist with other hydroelectric facilities, which is great. And it's clean energy. It's more renewable energy that we can put in more places, which is wonderful. Now let's talk about some of the negative environmental impacts That's the impact on aquatic systems. So the shade effect of solar panels can alter water temperature and light penetration, potentially
disrupting the habitat of aquatic plants and animals. Now, if you think about where these are going to be located, you wouldn't expect them to be located on seagrass habitats, near mangrove habitats, or on coral reefs, or salt marshes, or any other really important, like sponge reefs, any other important areas of like habitat that
it'd be on. Hopefully it would be in areas where it's just sand, but it has to be enough to be offshore that people wouldn't see it because nobody likes seeing any kind of structure out on the ocean when they're looking out off the coastline or off a beach. I mean, we've seen a lot of examples off the coast of US, you know, near Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod. People don't want to look out these very expensive
homes that they bought and see wind farms. Or in California, on the opposite coast, they don't want to see wind farms off their coast where they've bought homes, where they've paid a high residency value, like high home prices, so that they can look at wind farms. They don't want to see that. They want to see the beauty of the ocean, the beauty of the coastline. So having these structures very close would really suck from a
people perspective and enjoying the coastline perspective. Floating structures may affect fish spawning areas or migratory patterns, the actual physical structure. And we've seen this with impacts with wind farms. We've seen that that's been a huge worry and concern is how is it going to impact migration routes. But there are regulations in place, I know in the US, I know in Canada, where that is all avoided. Impact
assessments are done and hopefully avoided from that area. I'm actually working with some people to have somebody that knows a lot about
ocean wind. farms as well as impacts on the environment and demystifying a lot of the a lot of the Information that's out there or that rumors that may be out there So hopefully we'll get that on that person on soon, but we'll see what happens with that but this is you know, this is a structure that is Ideally or in concept and just when you look at it in the picture at electric.com you actually see that it covers more surface area than a wind farm would that's what
it looks like anyway, so The materials used for these systems, like plastics and metals, could degrade over time, leading to microplastic or chemical contamination of
the water. but it's the these are the first iterations of this on the ocean this can backfire and it can cause a lot of problems so making sure that the uh the items the solar panels the structures are built properly and effectively but we don't know what's going to happen in the ocean as it gets degraded or as the ocean heats up or there's you know obviously there's there's There's waves that happen in the ocean and lakes that can be very severe
and it can damage the structure and that could break up and that could leak out some nasty chemicals or something that's made up of these. So you have to be careful of that. Disrupting the water use, disruption to water use. So floating solar farms might hinder recreation activities, fishing or navigation of water body. There's a lot of boat traffic out there. And whether it's recreational or commercial, These items need to be
mapped. These hazards need to be put in place and making sure that people can see them in time so they don't damage their boats or run risk of running aground or running over these panels and sinking themselves. So that's obviously something that's a problem. The installation and maintenance risks. So the anchoring and cabling of these systems could disturb sediment, harm aquatic habitats, or pose risks to local wildlife.
So you think about the actual installation of the physical structure and the pipelines that are required, the cables that are required to be laid down. to go to the coastline, that will eventually disrupt a certain part of the areas. We don't know how it's going to cut off certain areas. We
don't know what it's going to do to the sediment. We don't know what it's going to do to any kind of fish habitat that's in the way or any kind of special nursery or spawning habitat that might get affected indirectly. Vulnerability to weather events in areas prone to storms, hurricanes, and flooding. These systems could be damaged, potentially releasing debris or pollutants into the water. You know, hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons, these are all major events that would harm these areas,
that could destroy these areas, depending on how hard it is. There's a lot of engineering that could go into place that would be able to make these panels and make these structures. a bit stronger to say, hey, this can handle a specific hurricane, cyclone, typhoon level. I don't know the specifics. I'm not an engineer. But obviously, that needs
to be taken into consideration. So speaking of considerations for minimizing impacts, site selection, so careful placement of these systems on artificial reservoirs or in degraded water bodies could reduce ecological impacts. Eco-friendly materials, so durable, non-toxic materials could minimize pollution effects or risks. monitoring programs, ongoing environmental monitoring, which I think is happening with ocean wind farms, can help identify and mitigate any negative effects on
aquatic ecosystems. One thing to say about that, I know a lot of companies, I know oil and gas companies have worked in the private consulting industry before. Nobody likes to pay for monitoring, so it really comes down to regulations by governments to enforce that monitoring to be not only done and conducted, but also reported on
so that the government can know what's happening. out there. And integration with other systems, so combining systems with aquaculture or hydroelectric projects could optimize land and use water. So overall, floating solar farms present a promising opportunity for renewable energy generation with careful planning and mitigation strategies to
address potential environmental concerns. This could actually work really well. But there's always, as a scientist who's been involved in stuff like this and private consulting and seeing regulations and stuff, there's still a lot that needs to be put into place and it's iterative, right? The first iteration's never the best and it'll improve over time, but at what risk? What risk are we willing to take to the ocean, to lakes, to air, like artificial reservoirs and so forth that could impede the
environment. Is this worth the risk? Is this what we have come to do? Do we understand, like, have a full capacity to understand the capabilities of these farms compared to the hindrance that it will cause to the ocean? Because it will cause impacts. There's no doubt. You're putting a structure, right, a mechanical structure in the water, in the ocean, and these are going to be large structures. This will impact the ocean. At what point are we going to say, yes,
it's enough, or we need to do it? It's a lot like deep sea mining, except deep sea mining, we don't know the effects. Here, we can monitor the effects a lot easier and understand what it's going to do and have maybe some pilot projects. But it's a very interesting concept. And it's saving habitats on land, but at what risk on the ocean? And that's what I'd love to hear from you. Do you think it's worth the risk to develop these floating solar panel farms in the ocean? And I don't even know
if they're actually floating. I think they're actually put down in shallow areas. I would like to know what you think you can put a comment on YouTube put a comment on Spotify video and YouTube videos or you can hit me up on Instagram at how to protect the ocean I'd love to know what you think of this of these floating solar farms.
It's always interesting to hear your feedback As I start this conversation, I want you to continue it so that we can have a great conversation about these systems, this new innovation, and this new way of trying to get renewable energy started and started quickly. Love to hear your thoughts. I want to thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. Have a great day. We'll talk to you next time, and