Recently, China’s largest offshore photovoltaic project — the CNNC Tianwan 2 million kW tidal flat PV demonstration project — exceeded one million kilowatts of grid-connected capacity, taking a decisive step toward full-capacity commissioning.
The project is located in the warm water discharge area of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province. It adopts a “nuclear power + new energy” multi-energy complementary model, jointly building a clean energy demonstration base with the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant totaling over 10 million kW of installed capacity. Since the first generation units were connected to the grid in January 2025, the project has been advanced in batches. By September 2026, cumulative installed capacity reached 1.5 million kW, laying a solid foundation for the one-million-kW grid connection milestone.
Large-scale offshore PV grid connection is inseparable from the support of transmission infrastructure. In January 2026, the project’s 220 kV transmission line project was fully commissioned, with a total length of 19.45 km and 64 newly constructed transmission towers, meeting the requirements for full-capacity grid connection and power export. Gao Bo, director of the project management center at State Grid Lianyungang Power Supply Company, said the line serves as an “energy superhighway” that directly ensures reliable export of power generated by the demonstration project. To overcome challenges including soft coastal geological conditions and complex construction environments, the project innovatively adopted fully enclosed grouting spiral pile technology throughout, improving construction progress while ensuring foundation stability. The supporting 110 kV transmission project has also completed construction and environmental acceptance, forming a complete transmission channel from the PV site to the main grid.
Upon full completion, the CNNC Tianwan 2 million kW tidal flat PV demonstration project is expected to produce approximately 2.2 billion kWh of green electricity annually, equivalent to saving about 680,000 tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.77 million tons. This “nuclear-new energy collaboration” model provides a replicable technical pathway for large-scale offshore PV development and injects substantial incremental capacity into regional energy structure transformation.
Source:Energy China