By Liu Leyi, People's Daily
A piece of arid land in northwest China's Qinghai province is now turned into a vast "blue sea"
made up of numerous photovoltaic (PV) panels, thanks to China's persistent efforts to promote
sustainable development.
In the past, 98.5 percent of the Talatan area, Gonghe county of Qinghai province's Hainan Tibetan
autonomous prefecture was covered by sands, and almost no plant could be observed there.
However, the flat land enjoys rich solar energy resources, with an average annual sunshine
duration of nearly 3,000 hours.
With the rise of PV power generation, a PV industry park with the largest photovoltaic power
generation capacity in the world has been built there. The park now houses 46 enterprises and has
a total installed capacity of 15,730 MW. It generates 10 billion kWh of electricity a year on
average, saving 3.11 million tons of standard coals and reducing 7.8 million tons of carbon
dioxide emission annually.
The park was built in 2011 by Huanghe Hydropower Development Company Limited, a
subsidiary of China's State Power Investment Corporation Limited.
Despite the challenges posed by sandstorms, high altitudes, and poor living conditions, the
construction team proposed innovative plans and built the park with a philosophy that puts
ecological conservation first. The team aims to make the park a world-class base that integrates
solar power generation and ecological conservation.
Green philosophy and scientific philosophy are embodied in every aspect of the park, from design
to construction.
To avoid disturbance of the ground surface, the team applied mechanized piling. It made constant
breakthroughs in the electricity conversion efficiency of batteries and modules and advanced
intensive development of the PV power system for the green cycle of its industry chain.
To protect vegetation, the team built transmission towers on palm matting and transported steel via
cableways in the air. It also built an ultra-high voltage power transmission line to send renewable
electricity to other provinces.
To make PV power generation more stable on days of specific weather, the company developed a
hydro-PV complementary system in collaboration with relevant scientific institutions. Now, a
330kV transmission line is linking the PV park with a hydropower generation plant 36 kilometers
away.
The innovative hydro-PV system can generate nearly 1.5 billion kWh of electricity a year, which
helps reduce 464,600 tons of standard coals annually, said Yao Xiaoyan, chairman of Huanghe
Hydropower Development Co., Ltd.
The 345-square-kilometer solar park is like sunscreen for the Talatan area. The average wind
speed in the park is lowered by 41.2 percent, and the humidity of the soil 20 centimeters under the
ground surface is enhanced by 32 percent.
Salix cheilophila, Chinese cottonwood, dragon spruce and other plants are grown in the park to
prevent wind and control sands, which has reduced 100 square kilometers of desertification. A
grassland ranch is even built in the park.
However, troubles came as the vegetation flourished. The weeds growing under the PV panels
grew haphazardly and blocked the panels, thus lowering electricity conversion efficiency. The
weeds also constituted a fire risk in the winter.
Instead of cutting the grass, the park invited surrounding villagers to raise their sheep in the four
sheepfolds built in the park, creating a beneficial ecological industry, Zhu Mingcheng, general
manager of the Hainan branch of Huanghe Hydropower Development Company Limited.
The "PV + sheep farming" model not only lowers the cost of PV enterprises, but also increases the
income for local farmers and herdsmen, said Zhang Zhenfei, head of the energy bureau of Hainan
Tibetan autonomous prefecture.
Sheep raised in the PV park has developed a reputation for the Talatan area, Zhang noted.
