All the countries of the world are these days gathered in Egypt to talk about climate and energy. We must reach the goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees, the world’s most powerful have agreed. How can we then reduce our dependence on fossil fuels? A small Norwegian entrepreneurial company based in Fornebu believes they have one of the solutions: Floating solar cells. Together with one of the world’s largest energy companies, Norwegian Ocean Sun will now build a larger offshore facility with floating solar panels. The project will be located in Haiyang outside Shandong province in China. The city of Haiyang is located in Shandong Province in eastern China. In the Yellow Sea outside this city, Ocean Sun will build floating solar cells at sea. – If we can show that this works well, then it has a very large development potential, says CEO of Ocean Sun, Børge Bjørneklett, to news. In total, the facility must have a capacity of 0.5 megawatts, or 500 kilowatts, which must be connected to the same power grid as the wind turbines. If it goes well, the project can be scaled up to 20 MW already in 2023. Special Norwegian expertise Bjørneklett says Ocean Sun has a very special technology. – Liquid solar energy is a very new industrial area. We have found a special technical solution which is very cost-effective and which also means that the solar cells can be located at sea, he says. Børge Bjørneklett, managing director of Ocean Sun, at the office at Fornebu in Bærum. Photo: Philippe Bédos Ulvin / news The technology combines uniquely Norwegian expertise from both fish farming and offshore wind, says Bjørneklett. He says the advantages are many: – The large solar power plants take up quite large areas, often in conflict with agricultural or leisure areas, or generally high population density. If you can put these on the water, it opens up development opportunities, says the director. An engineer works on the design for a floating solar panel at Ocean Sun’s offices in Bærum. Photo: Philippe Bédos Ulvin / news – When you also connect it with wind turbines, you can produce power even when there is little wind. This makes better use of the existing wiring network, emphasizes Bjørneklett. He adds that the contact with water lowers the temperature, which makes electricity production even more efficient. In addition, the panels help to create a more diverse ecosystem out in the sea. Growing fast Ocean Sun was started in 2016, and already has subsidiaries in both Singapore and Shanghai. Now they will therefore work together with the Chinese energy giant State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC). For Ocean Sun, the collaboration with SPIC is a milestone. – It is a very great honor to receive contracts with SPIC. But this is also very exciting because the potential is so very large. There are thousands of these windmills in this area of Shandong alone, he points out. Bjørneklett says they have no concerns about working in China, either with regard to the country’s technology race with the West or violations of human rights. – We don’t think about it that way. China is the largest country in solar energy, with a very large production capacity of solar panels. We see this collaboration as important to being able to spread our technology. We only have positive experiences with technology collaboration with Chinese businesses, says Bjørneklett.
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Norwegian Ocean Sun to build floating solar cell plant in China – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
