Sinopec Launches New Cost-Cutting Floating Solar Project

Last Updated on: 7th July 2025, 11:46 am

Whelp, that was fast. Last December China’s state-owned oil company, Sinopec, recapped the results of a modestly scaled floating solar pilot project, aimed at producing green hydrogen from seawater. That’s kind of weird, considering the firm’s gigantic footprint in the petroleum industry. Nevertheless, Sinopec has just expanded the array even more and is eyeballing a scale-up to 23 megawatts. What gives?

Floating Solar And Green Hydrogen

Money is what gives, of course. Regardless of the abrupt shift in US energy policy, other leading industrial nations are decarbonizing. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean petroleum stakeholders will suddenly ditch their core energy extraction business. The Sinopec floating solar project, for example, has been producing green hydrogen at its Qingdao Refinery in Shandong Province, where it contributes refinery processes.

ExxonMobil illustrates another reason for giving the side-eye to the petroleum industry’s decarbonization solutions. The company is promoting the “virtually carbon-free ammonia” produced at its sprawling facility in Baytown, Texas. The chemical symbol for ammonia is NH3, so if you’re wondering where the C would come in, that’s a good question.

Globally, the ammonia industry relies on hydrogen extracted from natural gas, with gasified coal chipping in a lesser amount. By “carbon-free,” ExxonMobil means that the carbon is extracted from the usual carbon-containing, fossil energy feedstock and sequestered somewhere, leaving the hydrogen behind to make ammonia.

In its press materials, ExxonMobil don’t say where the carbon goes. If you have any thoughts about that, drop a note in the comment thread, keeping in mind that in the petroleum industry captured carbon is typically deployed to revive flagging wells. “EOR — using CO₂ to produce more oil from depleted reservoirs — has been re-labelled by the oil and gas industry as CCUS and is now being promoted as a climate-friendly solution,” advised the organization IEEFA back in 2022.

The Floating Solar Solution, With Seawater

So much for ExxonMobil. The Sinopec project is more interesting from a broader, long term decarbonization angle due to the problem-solving that occurred in the pilot phase, indicating its potential for application outside of the refining industry. In a press release describing the project earlier today, Sinopec emphasized the point. “Serving as a pioneering initiative, it aims to promote floating photovoltaic projects in coastal and shallow sea areas within full-seawater environments,” the firm stated.

For those of you new to the topic, clean hydrogen covers a lot of ground, but the “green” in green hydrogen typically refers to electrolysis systems, which deploy electricity from renewable resources to push hydrogen gas from water. Green hydrogen continues to struggle against cheap natural gas for a foothold in the global market, which explains Sinopec’s obsessive interest in slashing the cost of its green hydrogen operation.

Sinopac addresses that problem with a network of solutions. All else being equal, access to on-site solar energy cuts the cost of transmitting electricity from remote sites, for example. Use of open water also relieves the company from costs related to site acquisition, while freeing up space at its property for other purposes.

Sinopic also notes that the project was constructed on a new money-saving pile grid. “An underwater anchoring system designed to withstand wind speeds of up to level 13 and accommodate tidal variations of 3.5 meters, reducing investment costs by approximately 10% compared to traditional pile-based PV systems,” Sinopec explained in a press release this morning.

The tide-shifting system is also a cost cutter on the solar energy production side. It enables the solar panels to sit close to the water, regardless of the change in water levels. “This design optimizes seawater cooling, enhancing power generation efficiency by 5-8% through the cooling effect,” Sinopec notes.

In addition to the potential savings from the solar part of the green hydrogen system, shelling out more money for a battery storage system is not necessary. The electricity produced by the solar array during the day is already stored, in the form of hydrogen. Transporting hydrogen is another expensive obstacle, which Sinopec largely avoids by producing and using its green hydrogen on site.

Yet another issue involves the use of purified freshwater resources in electrolysis systems. Global water resources are already stretched to the bone. Introducing a new water-intensive industry to the Earth does not help matters much. Seawater is a more abundant option, but salty water involves additional purification costs. With a salt content of about approximately 3%, seawater corrodes the electrodes in electrolysis systems and clogs up other parts as well.

Improved desalination and purification systems are one way to fix the seawater problem. Innovators are also working on new electrolysis systems that can operate efficiently in seawater conditions. Sinopec has chosen the straight up seawater option. The company collaborated with the Dalian Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals to develop a durable, efficient seawater-to-electrolysis system.

Next Steps For Solar Panels That Float

In today’s announcement Sinopec recapped the second phase of the pilot project, which expanded the array to 7.5 megawatts. The company also provided some additional insights into its cost-saving measures, including savings on the maintenance and troubleshooting side. “A streamlined inspection pathway for PV panels and cables positioned close to the water’s surface, significantly improving safety and lowering operating and maintenance costs compared to conventional systems,” the company stated.

The next step for Sinopec is a 23-megawatt floating array in support of its green hydrogen system at the Qingdao refinery, so stay tuned for more on that.

Meanwhile, here in the US, woe is us. The US Department of Energy began promoting the floating PV solution in force back in 2018. The emphasis was on repurposing reservoirs, artificial ponds, and other existing, human-made infrastructure as dual-use facilities for water supply and solar energy for genera

The Energy Department research team eliminated thousands of unsuitable sites and still came up with more than 24,000 sites around the country. All together, the researchers estimated that floating solar arrays on existing water infrastructure could account for about 10% of annual US electricity generation.

Earlier this year, in the waning days of the Biden administration, the Energy Department released a new geospatial study examining the potential for floating PV arrays only within reservoirs owned or controlled by the federal government. They came up with a technical potential of 1,476 terawatt-hours per year, the equivalent of 100 million homes. Even if 90% of those sites are unsuitable for development, the remainder could make a significant contribution to the US grid without impinging on land.

Oh, well. Shortly after the new report was released, US President Trump swept into office on a mission to throttle the domestic wind and solar industries while stomping all over the nation’s climate research and weather reporting resources along the way. With a compliant Republican majority in Congress, Trump is well on his way to accomplishing his goals — with the  determined assistance of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, of course.

As for Musk, he left the White House under a cloud, determined to go home to his corporate headquarters in Texas and tend to the business of selling electric cars, or maybe spend a few of his billions to launch his own political party, because why not?

Image (cropped): Sinopec has expanded a floating solar array at its Qingdao Refinery, aiming to cut the cost of green hydrogen with on-site renewable energy and seawater (courtesy of Sinopec via prnewsire.com).