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.
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.
Won Ji-hyun reports.
This massive solar power plant floats on a reservoir in Gyeonggi-do Province.
And round and round it goes,... following the sun's movements throughout the day.
This gigantic facility... that measures around 75-hundred square meters, was built last year by a Korean energy firm called Solkiss.
The floating plant is made of roughly 16-hundred solar voltaic modules installed on a floating deck... that rotates on water.
Using a tracking system, the deck moves in the direction of the sun to maximize efficiency.
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.


"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."

The floating solar plant can generate about 23-hundred kilowatts of electricity a day,... enough to power 270 households.
It's also sturdy enough to withstand typhoons moving up to 50 kilometers per hour.
Solkiss expects the plant to become an efficient source of energy... that will help reduce power shortages in the future.
Won Ji-hyun, Arirang News.