A UNIT of China Three Gorges Corp. is building a 1 billion yuan (US$151 million) floating solar power plant, the world’s biggest, in the nation’s eastern province of Anhui.

China Three Gorges New Energy Co. started building the 150-megawatt project in Huainan in July and part of the plant has connected to the grid, according to a statement issued Sunday.

The project features panels fixed to floats on the surface of a lake that formed after a coal mine collapsed, according to the unit. The entire facility is expected to come online by May 2018.

The Huainan project is a new experiment aimed at cutting the cost of constructing and operating solar power plants, Xinhua quoted Lu Chun, chairman of Three Gorges Group, as saying.

Floating solar is getting bigger in China, where ground-mounted projects aren’t used to full capacity because of grid congestion. About 5.6 percent of solar power generation was idled in the first three quarters, according to data from the National Energy Administration.

Before construction of China Three Gorges’ plant, China’s biggest commissioned floating solar project was a 40-megawatt farm by Sungrow Power Supply Co. in the same province. (SD-Agencies)