Ciel & Terre Taiwan and HEXA Renewables extends floating solar project

Currently, the entire completed floating solar project in the Changbin industrial zone is about 440 MWp, with Ciel & Terre Taiwan here representing 280 MWp of floating solar.

Changbin #3 and #4, representing 192.3 MWp, are extensions of the former Changbin floating solar project built in 2020 in the same area. This project generates approximately 260 GWh, reduces 137 800 t of carbon dioxide and is equivalent to energy consumption of 65 000 households annually.

The Changbin #3 and #4 projects started construction in October 2022 and achieved the first COD in October 2023 with several large arrays spreading over 171 ha. of water surface on this near-protected intertidal area. The area is considered one of the most challenging for floating solar due to the twice-a-day tidal changes in sea water environment with occasional typhoons, all of which have been taken into account in the floating solar project design.

For this large scale floating solar project, Ciel &Terre Taiwan has partnered with a group of trustworthy and professional Taiwanese suppliers for the design of the floating solar plant and anchoring system, the floats manufacturing and supply and construction support for EPC works regarding for the Hydrelio floating platform assembly.

“There are three engineers on site providing assembly training and inspection to make sure all the Hydrelio parts and anchoring connection are mounted correctly,” explained George Wang and Bess Chang, Ciel et Terre Taiwan Project Managers of Changbin #3 and #4 project. “As we are the designer and manufacturer of our own floating solar solutions, we have also 2 Quality engineers taking responsibility for product quality and delivery, to make sure all the products are met with the highest quality standards prior to delivery. On a normal day, there were 12 – 15-wheeler wing vans to deliver the floating solar system, capable of achieving around 20 MW in a month.”

The design of the platform and the anchoring of such a floating solar array is one of the biggest challenges, not only because of the project size but mainly due to the near-shore environment. Indeed, for this project, there were a lot of tough parameters to consider at the design stage to ensure robustness of the system under all kind of conditions: sea water, waves, tidal changes and occasional typhoons.

Ciel & Terre Taiwan, in collaboration with HEXA Renewables, have taken near-shore parameters to provide a customised floating solar solution including an upgraded spreader bar and fixation parts, and a reinforced connection pin to strengthen the material to resist to wave conditions.

Changbin #3 and #4 are quite unique also because Ciel & Terre Taiwan team, in collaboration with HEXA Renewables, successfully developed a patented technology called the New Pillar Anchoring Solution. This project is the first large scale one to use concrete pillars and H-beam system for anchoring design. To ensure the reliability of its brand-new anchoring solution, Ciel & Terre Taiwan has worked with experts from various fields such as marine engineering companies, plastic mould companies, structural engineers, and hydraulic engineering experts to finalise the parts and whole structure.

This new pillar anchoring solution created by Ciel & Terre Taiwan is believed to be the most reliable solution in that type of environment to limit the movement of floating solar which reduces the extrusion risk during water variation and to keep the floating solar plant at its location at all time and all conditions.

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Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/solar/20022024/ciel-terre-taiwan-and-hexa-renewables-extends-floating-solar-project/