Offshore solar could be the next big thing in renewables: Chinese renewable energy giant State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) and Norway-based floating solar producer Ocean Sun are developing new technologies that could realize large-scale floating solar plants installed in seas and oceans, Bloomberg reports. While hundreds of floating projects on lakes, reservoirs, fish farms and dams around the world exist, their capacities remain small scale. SPIC’s and Ocean Sun’s recent plant testing is one of the most high-profile tests yet of offshore solar technology, Bloomberg writes. The test plant successfully began generating electricity late last year.

Why move to the sea? Installing offshore solar panels would resolve the many challenges faced in regions worldwide in terms of available land and adequate space that doesn’t require deforestation, Bloomberg writes. Adding solar systems on existing reservoirs could allow more than 6k global cities to develop self-sufficient power systems, Bloomberg writes, citing a paper (pdf) published in Nature journal in March.

But it's no easy feat: Challenges that offshore solar developers are yet to overcome include higher costs of development — which are around 40% more expensive than panels installed on land — and corrosion from salts or strong winds. Additionally, the long-term impacts of covering water bodies with panels such as the impact on ecosystems and flood control remain unknown.