China trials world's first underwater solar plant at 33 feet depth

Researchers at Yunnan University built the world's first underwater solar power plant at a depth of 10 m using wide-bandgap perovskite cells with a 1.96 eV bandgap. A small cell reached 34.71% efficiency and a larger module 29.4%, retaining 99.58% of performance after 1,000 hours in seawater.

• 0.0895 cm² perovskite cell hit 34.71% efficiency; 28.79 cm² module reached 29.4%
• Device kept 99.58% of initial efficiency after 1,000 hours in seawater
• T80 lifetime at 25 °C estimated at 48,904 hours, over five years
• In the South China Sea, batteries charged 1,416, 752 and 324 mWh at 2, 6 and 10 m depths