The plant is already under construction at the site of a former quarry in the Haute-Marne region of France.
Once finished, the farm will comprise 134,649 floating solar panels covering an area equivalent to 180 football pitches.
The huge 73MW array will cater to the electricity needs of around 37,000 people, Q Energy estimates.
Floating solar farms or floatovoltaics work much like their land-based cousins, but on water.
Floatovoltaics offer some distinct advantages over land-based PV.
The cooling effect of the water can help cool the panels,boosting efficiency.
But the biggest selling point is that floating solar panels dont use land.
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Especially for land-scarce countries, it simply makes sense.
Its the same logic thatpushed wind farms offshore.
The bulk of growth in floating solar has been in the population-dense regions of East Asia.
Theworlds biggest plant, the Dezhou Dingzhuang solar array in China, has a peak output of 320MW.
Dutch renewable energy company GorenLeven has installed 500,000 panels on lakes throughout the tiny country.
The land of bicycles, windmills and cheese is also set to buildfloating solar plants in the ocean.
DutchstartupSolar Duck recently installed its first pilotoffshore solar platformin the North Sea.
Even here, the potential is huge.
Thats equivalent to all the fossil-fuel plants in operation worldwide.
Story bySion Geschwindt
Sion is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy.
