South Korea’s state-funded Korea Water Resources Corp. hosted Wednesday a ceremony marking the completion of Chungju Dam’s third floating photovoltaic power plant at Chungju Lake located in the North Chungcheong Province.

Floating photovoltaic power plants are installed on buoys that float on bodies of water. They inflict less damage to the surrounding environment, and the water acts as a natural coolant, increasing solar panel efficiency by 10 percent, according to experts.

The Chungju Dam area already hosts two clusters of solar panels.

K-water expects the newly built plant to create 3,462 megawatt-hours of electricity, enough for about 1,400 families to use simultaneously. The firm also said the solar panels will have positive environmental effects, as it does not produce fine dust, replaces 6,000 barrels of fossil fuels and reduces 1,581 metric tons of carbon dioxide every year.

The project sets a milestone for the company as it was the first to be suggested by local residents, said K-water. A fishermen’s community near the lake suggested the project in 2019 after noticing the positive effects preexisting solar panels had on the lake’s fish population and the local tourism industry.

Our company “will continue to cooperate with local residents to actively review and carry out projects that will expand environmentally safe floating photovoltaic power plants to achieve carbon neutrality while contributing to the development of the local community,” said K-water CEO Park Jae-Hyeon.

By Lee Seung-ku (seungku99@heraldcorp.com)