China's first gigawatt-level open-sea offshore photovoltaic (PV) project, developed by state-owned energy firm CHN Energy, successfully connected its first batch of PV units to the grid on Wednesday.

The project is located 8 km off the eastern coast of Dongying City in Shandong Province, and covers an area of more than 1,200 hectares.

With a total installed capacity of 1 gigawatt, the project, upon completion, is expected to generate nearly 1.8 billion kWh of power annually, enough to meet the annual electricity needs of more than 2.6 million urban residents. This is equivalent to saving an estimated half a million tonnes of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1.3 million tonnes a year, according to the company.

The company said this project also marked the first time in China that a 66-kilovolt offshore cable paired with an onshore cable had been used for high-capacity, long-distance transmission in the PV sector.

It said the project would serve as a model for the development of large-scale offshore PV projects in the industry.