On December 26, 2023, the first large-scale offshore pile foundation fixed offshore photovoltaic project in China, the China General Nuclear Corporation Yantai Zhaoyuan 400 MW offshore photovoltaic project, began construction. After the project is completed, it is expected that the average annual power generation will be 690 million kilowatt hours during the 25 year operation period, with an equivalent annual reduction of about 207000 tons of standard coal consumption and a reduction of about 532000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

The project is located in the Laizhou Bay area, with a total planned area of approximately 6.44 square kilometers, consisting of 121 photovoltaic arrays. This project is also the site with the deepest water depth, the most difficult construction, and the most complex development conditions among the first ten offshore photovoltaic project sites in Shandong Province, with a water depth of about 8.5 to 11 meters.

It is reported that through the optimization and iteration of project design schemes and collaborative innovation of construction technology, CGN New Energy and China Electric Power Northwest Institute have formed a complete process system for the construction of offshore photovoltaic projects in shallow waters. They have also developed and built the country's first set of intelligent and efficient offshore photovoltaic pile driving equipment, "Dianjian Haizhuang 001".

In the future, CGN will continue to focus on the construction of new energy in the Shandong offshore area, making every effort to build a 10 million kilowatt "wind and solar energy storage and fishing" offshore new energy industry cluster, assisting in the implementation of Shandong Province's marine strong province strategy, continuously outputting green and clean electricity, and contributing clean energy to the construction of a beautiful China. Editor/Zhao E