China has launched the world’s first 100-kilowatt (kW) floating solar farm built with bamboo frames, offering a more environmentally friendly approach to offshore energy.
The floating solar platform, named Jilin-2, is made of composite bamboo tubes and pipes. It has been deployed at a demonstration base off the coast of Yantai in the eastern province of Shandong.
It will supply power to an integrated hydrogen, ammonia and methanol production project, manufacturer Yantai CIMC Raffles Ocean Technology Group announced in late June.
“Compared to conventional steel or [high-density polythene] structures, the bamboo-based design significantly reduces marine environmental impact,” CIMC Raffles said.
The new platform builds upon an earlier 10kW prototype called Jilin-1 from 2023.
Jilin-2 was developed by the CIMC Offshore Engineering Research Institute, CIMC Raffles’ research arm, as well as China Forestry Group Corporation and Beijing Forestry University.
CIMC Raffles said its next step was to build a megawatt-level bamboo-based project and to promote the global adoption of green marine materials.
Across China’s vast coastline, offshore solar farms are being built to help meet the country’s dual carbon goals of reaching peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
In December, a one-gigawatt (GW) offshore solar farm – the world’s largest – was brought online off the coast of Dongying in Shandong, according to state-owned developer CHN Energy.
Conventional offshore solar farms are built using sturdy steel or plastic frames along with buoyant floats.
In 2023, China launched an action plan to replace plastic with bamboo, and has included the initiative in its latest forest and grassland conservation plan released in July.
Bamboo is a fast-growing, giant woody grass naturally found across Asia, Africa and Central and South America. It is used as a building material because it is lightweight, flexible, durable and strong.
The new solar platform uses bamboo-wound pipes as a core support, as well as “sea bamboo pipes” – fibre-reinforced wood-bamboo composite pipes developed by Beijing Forestry University that provide buoyancy and load-bearing support.
Qi Chusheng, a professor at the university, told the official forestry trade newspaper China Green Times that the wood and bamboo materials were modified to allow them to withstand high humidity, corrosion, salt spray and ultraviolet radiation.
He said that these renewable materials could be processed into high-value, durable engineering materials, offering ways to reduce reliance on conventional high-energy-consuming materials, according to a report in the paper on August 12.
The platform will be monitored to see how the sea bamboo pipes perform in terms of long-term durability, environmental adaptability and fatigue, which will provide technical support for the use of wood-bamboo composites in offshore power plants, marine energy islands and marine ranches.
Marine ranches are areas of the ocean that are managed as underwater farms to cultivate marine life while restoring ecosystems. China has been developing them to promote food security through sustainable seafood production methods, according to a paper published in the Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences last year.
China is increasingly adopting bamboo-based materials for innovative projects, including anchoring shifting sand to halt desertification in its arid northern regions. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
