Due to decades of coal mining, the land across Suzhou in Anhui province has been left with many mining pits. In order to restore the local ecology, the city has been exploring a new path for the management and development of water surfaces in the coal mining subsidence area in recent years.

Because of its abundant coal resources, Suzhou used to be an important energy city in East China. In recent years, floating photovoltaic power stations have been introduced, presenting a new way to reasonably utilize abandoned water surfaces to generate green and clean energy.

In June 2017, CECEP Solar Energy Technology invested a total of 500 million yuan ($69.4 million) to build a floating photovoltaic power project, utilizing the 140 hectares of water surface on the coal mining subsidence area in Zhuxianzhuang town in Suzhou’s Yongqiao district.

The electrical energy generated by the floating photovoltaic power station is connected to the State Grid Suzhou Power Supply's 220-kilovolt Tuohe River transformer substation and transmitted to the grid for use. It provides clean energy to thousands of households and businesses.

The power station generates an average of about 80 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, equivalent to saving about 20,000 metric tons of standard coal each year. The former coal mining subsidence area has been transformed into a new energy base, realizing the utilization of resources and the upgrade of the local industrial structure.

Today, the sparkling water surface is bathed in sunlight by the deep blue solar panels and schools of fish swim below, presenting a beautiful ecological picture in a coal mining subsidence area around the city.

The State Grid Suzhou Power Supply, with the aim to better serve the development of new energy, is organizing power supply service personnel to enter new energy enterprises for equipment operation and maintenance and technical and consulting services.

It accelerated the construction of a new type of power system, improved new energy regulation capacity, constructed distributed photovoltaic observation and control demonstration areas, and built pilot stations for distributed photovoltaic plus energy storage.

In accordance with the construction of photovoltaic power stations on mountain tops, water surfaces, rooftops and in agricultural areas, the company worked together with the government to promote the new energy grid connection service consultation mechanism. They compiled the Research on the Demand for Energy Storage Capacity in High Proportion New Energy Systems in Suzhou and regularly published distributed photovoltaic development zones in different grades. Such efforts are promoting the orderly grid connection of new energy and the consumption of new energy.

The State Grid Suzhou Power Supply said it will continue to serve low-carbon transformation by regularly releasing available capacities and coordinating with the government to determine development scales and construction schedules. By guiding energy storage projects, the company will help provide new momentum for green energy and contribute to the realization of the national dual-carbon goals.