Photovoltaic power station in NW China’s Qinghai turns desert, wasteland into green pasture

As the sun set, Sonam Drolma rode a motorcycle, following a herd of sheep as they went towards home on the lush green grounds of a photovoltaic power generation park covering an area over 100 square kilometers located in the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Qinghai Province.

Photo shows the construction site for a photovoltaic power generation park. During the early days after the construction of the park was kicked off, the site was almost entirely just a stretch of wasteland. (Photo/People’s Daily)

“Since the solar panels were installed here inside the photovoltaic power generation park, and thanks to the efforts taken by the park to improve the local ecological environment, several pieces of wasteland have been turned into grassland, and we have embraced a better life thanks to all of these,” said Sonam Drolma, a local herder.

In recent years, the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has explored a new model to control desertification by developing a local photovoltaic industry. As a result of these efforts, the area of desert and sandy land in the locality has been continually shrinking.

Photo shows lush green grass that has recently taken root underneath the solar panels inside a photovoltaic power industrial park. (Photo/People’s Daily)

By combining photovoltaic power generation with ecological conservation and animal husbandry, the park has protected the local ecological environment and restored the ecology of the grassland.

In recent years, Qinghai has quickened its steps toward the development of clean energy. The Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which receives strong sunlight radiation and boasts an average 2,719 hours of daylight throughout a year, and which has been characterized by its vast deserts and wasteland, offers natural advantages for developing a photovoltaic industry.

The photovoltaic power generation park, together with the Longyangxia hydropower station, which is about 50 kilometers away, combine to represent a hydro-solar project that has the largest installed capacity for generating electricity in all of Qinghai.

Photo shows a wasteland that has been turned into a green pasture in recent years thanks to the construction of a photovoltaic power generation park, with an animal husbandry industry having also been developed inside the same park. (Photo/People’s Daily)

Photo shows workers cleaning solar panels inside a photovoltaic power generation park. (Photo/People’s Daily)

Photo shows the Longyangxia hydropower station. As a hydro-solar project, it has the largest installed capacity in Qinghai. (Photo/People’s Daily)

Photo shows a local villager named Sonam Drolma who is busy looking after her animals as they graze inside the lush green grounds of a photovoltaic power generation park. (Photo/People’s Daily)

Photo shows ultra-high-voltage (UHV) direct current transmission lines that deliver electricity from Qinghai Province to central China’s Henan Province. (Photo/People’s Daily)