Chinese scientists have built and tested the world’s first submarine solar farm, successfully operating a perovskite-based photovoltaic system at a depth of 10 meters in the open sea, South China Morning Post reports.

The power plant was developed by a team from Yunnan University.

The submerged array charged batteries and powered an LED panel.

“Previous underwater solar cells focused on very shallow water depths of only 2 meters or less, far from useful for practical applications,” Zhang Wen-hua of Yunnan University said. “This work presents the first functional validation of submerged solar cells practically operating at a water depth of up to about 10 meters.”

The technology could be used in underwater sensors, detectors, cameras, communication systems, underwater robots, and submersibles.