The sun is our most important source of renewable energy,... but unfortunately we haven't gotten round to finding a cheap and reliable way of converting into enough electricity for all of us.<br />However,... in a small step toward achieving this goal,... Korea has just finished construction of a floating solar power plant,... the first of its kind in the world.<br />Won Ji-hyun reports. <br />This massive solar power plant floats on a reservoir in Gyeonggi-do Province.<br />And round and round it goes,... following the sun's movements throughout the day.<br />This gigantic facility... that measures around 75-hundred square meters, was built last year by a Korean energy firm called Solkiss. <br />The floating plant is made of roughly 16-hundred solar voltaic modules installed on a floating deck... that rotates on water.<br />Using a tracking system, the deck moves in the direction of the sun to maximize efficiency.<br />Since the floating modules can collect sunlight that's reflected off water, developers say this type of plant can generate more power than ground-based systems.<br /><br /><br />"The ground-mounted rotating system can collect solar energy for an average of 3.6 hours a day. Based on our observation from January until June, we found out that the floating solar power plant can collect energy for more than 4.9 hours a day. That means the floating type is about 36 percent more efficient on average."<br /><br />The floating solar plant can generate about 23-hundred kilowatts of electricity a day,... enough to power 270 households.<br />It's also sturdy enough to withstand typhoons moving up to 50 kilometers per hour.<br />Solkiss expects the plant to become an efficient source of energy... that will help reduce power shortages in the future.<br />Won Ji-hyun, Arirang News.
