Building photovoltaic power stations in fish ponds: generating electricity on the water and farming fish below

Without increasing inputs of land and other resource factors, how can the economic benefits of the aquaculture industry be further improved? In recent years, "aquaculture-photovoltaic integration" demonstration bases in Rudong, Sheyang and other places in Jiangsu have creatively combined photovoltaic new energy power generation with aquaculture, achieving a triple harvest of "fish, electricity and environmental protection."

"Aquaculture-photovoltaic integration," simply put, means installing photovoltaic panels on the water surface while farming fish and shrimp below, achieving parallel development of aquaculture and power generation. According to expert estimates, China currently has 120 million mu of aquaculture water surface, of which about 45 million mu of intensive fish ponds meet the conditions for developing "aquaculture-photovoltaic integration." If all were upgraded, the total could reach 1200GW to 1500GW, with annual power generation revenue reaching 1.2 trillion yuan to 1.5 trillion yuan.

Tongwei Co., Ltd. is currently the world's largest aquaculture enterprise, directly or indirectly owning 9 million mu of high-quality fish ponds. Liu Hanyuan, executive vice chairman of the New Energy Chamber of Commerce of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and chairman of the board of Tongwei Group, said: "We once estimated that 9 million mu of intensive fish ponds could yield an annual aquaculture output of 13.5 million tons. By building new and upgrading 'aquaculture-photovoltaic integration' projects, we could add photovoltaic power stations with an installed capacity of 300GW to 450GW. In areas with more than 2000 hours of sunshine per year, the profit per mu of pond will be more than 3 times higher than that of aquaculture alone."

In terms of cost, compared with conventional aquaculture or ordinary power stations, "aquaculture-photovoltaic integration" requires slightly higher initial capital investment, but later operation and maintenance costs are not high, and with the realization of unmanned operation, costs can be further reduced.

The environmental benefits are particularly considerable. According to reports, calculating a solar power station built on 20 to 30 mu of fish pond water surface as one unit, it can save 348 tons of standard coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1200 tons each year.

"Aquaculture-photovoltaic integration" has not been developing in China for long, but this unique innovative model has already attracted the attention of competent authorities and numerous experts and scholars in agriculture and the photovoltaic industry.

According to Liang Zhipeng, deputy director of the New Energy Department of the National Energy Administration, during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, annual investment in photovoltaic projects is expected to reach 150 billion yuan, and exports of photovoltaic products will also reach 150 billion yuan. It is expected that in about 10 years, photovoltaic power generation will have the ability to compete comprehensively with coal-fired power.

"Against the backdrop of the state's continued promotion of green energy development, 'aquaculture-photovoltaic integration' has broad development prospects." Wei Baozhen, director of the National Fisheries Technology Extension Center, said that using the abundant pond water surface resources in areas with concentrated aquaculture to build photovoltaic power generation projects, and fully leveraging the integrated advantages of the new energy industry, efficient fisheries and the leisure tourism industry, can achieve a sound combination of intensive development of new energy and industrialized development of efficient aquaculture.

Professor Sun Yaojie, executive vice dean of the New Rural Development Research Institute of Fudan University and executive chairman of the National Modern Agricultural Photovoltaic Industry Collaborative Innovation Strategic Alliance, believes that "aquaculture-photovoltaic integration" will directly reduce aquaculture costs and improve farming benefits. "For the mechanical power consumption of aquaculture equipment such as aerators and automatic feeders, using photovoltaic power generation on the water will effectively reduce this portion of aquaculture costs. As a combination of new industry and modern facility agriculture, 'aquaculture-photovoltaic integration' achieves industrial stacking and resource sharing, and can fully leverage the comprehensive utilization benefits of land." Sun Yaojie said.

In Jiangsu and other places, thousands of mu of intensive fish ponds have already adopted the "aquaculture-photovoltaic integration" model and achieved good benefits. Taking the "aquaculture-photovoltaic integration" demonstration project in Sheyang as an example, in its first year, the power generation revenue per mu of fish pond reached more than 60,000 yuan, a substantial increase over the previous fish farming income of 7000 yuan to 15,000 yuan per mu, and the annual profit per mu of "aquaculture-photovoltaic integration" pond exceeded 40,000 yuan.