China's hydropower capacity predicted to hit 354GW by end-2017

This will likely boost China's floating solar industry.

Floating solar panels will also be deployed to prevent water evaporation at large - and smaller - water reservoirs, both for hydropower and drinking water purposes, according to BMI Research.

Seasonal variations in hydrology mean that the availability of water fluctuates - and during drought cycles, water evaporation poses a substantial challenge.

In relation to hydropower, these prevention efforts are centred on minimising the downturn in hydropower output during these seasonal down cycles.

Here's more from BMI Research:

For example, we note that India is developing a 600MW floating solar project at the country's 1,960MW Koyna hydropower plant. In China's case, we estimate that 354GW of hydropower capacity will be installed in the country by the end of 2017.

This suggests a substantial upside to floating solar power - particularly as official Chinese statistics state that the country has almost 98,000 water reservoirs, and more than 40% of the world's large dams.

We do stress that water evaporation is more of an acute concern in the north and north-western provinces, where solar irradiation is the highest.

Most dams and reservoirs, however, are located in the Yangtze River basin, where solar irradiation is relatively lower.

As such, while we expect water evaporation prevention efforts to support the rationale of developing floating solar capacity in the southern regions, the most important supportive factor will be the availability of transmission and distribution capacity at large-scale hydropower facilities - enabling these farms to find an outlet for the power generation.

This will be the case in the provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi and Hubei, where most of China's hydropower capacity is situated.