The World's First Bamboo-based Composite Offshore Floating Photovoltaic Delivered

      On 28 October, the bamboo-based composite offshore floating photovoltaic platform, namely "Jilin No. 1", which was jointly developed and constructed by Yantai CIMC Raffles Ocean Technology Group (hereinafter referred to as "CIMC Raffles") and Zhonglin Green Carbon (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhonglin Green Carbon"), has successfully completed the construction, towing and offshore installation, and carried out the empirical test in the seashore area of CIMC Offshore Photovoltaic Experimental Verification and Testing Base, where is located at Yantai Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, marking a key step forward in CIMC’s exploration of affordable green offshore photovoltaic technology.

     Jointly developed by the R&D teams of both parties, the "Jilin No. 1" PV platform has completely independent intellectual property rights. The platform is the first in the world to use the jointly-developed new bamboo-based offshore material as the main material, opening up the experimental application of the new material in the field of floating photovoltaic platforms.

     It is understood that the new material is a new type of bio-based material made of bamboo and a variety of new processes, which possess the advantages of lighter weight, lower cost, seawater corrosion resistance, longer service life, green and environmental protection compared with the traditional steel structure. After the relevant empirical tests are completed, the popularization and application of future scale products will help promote the development process of offshore photovoltaic affordable product. 

     In recent years, with the increasing scarcity of onshore land resources, photovoltaic projects covering a wider area have begun to gradually broaden the application scenarios to the vast ocean. China's mainland coastline is 18,000 kilometers long. It is estimated that the capacity of offshore photovoltaic platform installation could exceed 70GW. Up to now, Shandong Province has planned a capacity of 42GW for offshore photovoltaics, Jiangsu Province has planned a capacity of 12.65GW for offshore photovoltaics, Zhejiang, Tianjin, Liaoning, Hainan, Fujian and other coastal provinces/municipalities are also actively introducing relevant policies to promote the scale development of offshore photovoltaics. 

     As a new-generation offshore photovoltaic product of CIMC Raffles, this photovoltaic power generation platform, relying on the solid R&D foundation in CIMC offshore engineering, takes the industrialization and application of new bio-based green materials as an opportunity to provide customers with safe, reliable, green and environmentally friendly and economically feasible offshore floating photovoltaic solutions, so as to push forward the realization of the goal of "green power and green manufacturing".

     Going forward, CIMC Raffles and Zhonglin Green Carbon will take their respective leading advantages in the fields of ocean engineering, clean energy and new bamboo material technology, and continue to focus on the development of standards for new bamboo-based offshore materials, product certification and megawatt photovoltaic array products to carry out research and development, and to further accelerate the process of promoting the development of the offshore floating photovoltaic business at affordable prices.