Green power corridor under construction to tap renewable energy resources in desert

YINCHUAN, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Construction of an ultra-high voltage power transmission line to send electricity generated from wind and photovoltaic power stations in China's fourth largest desert, the Tengger Desert, to central China's Hunan Province, has started.

The State Grid Corporation of China said the line, stretching over 1,600 km from northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to central China's Hunan Province, is part of a national plan to develop clean energy resources in China's deserts and arid lands.

"By 2025, when the project is completed, it will boast an output of about 20 billion kWh of clean electricity a year," said Xiang Li, with the State Grid Ningxia Electric Power Co., Ltd.

Passing through six provincial-level regions, the project is the country's first ultra-high voltage direct current power transmission line linking major clean energy bases in deserts.

On the edge of the Tengger Desert, an area of 28,000 mu (about 1,866.7 hectares) of sand dunes was bulldozed and photovoltaic panels were installed, all within the space of 10 days.

Over the past 10 years, Ningxia's green power production capacity has recorded a 9.6-fold increase, overtaking other power sources such as oil and coal. The region ranks first in the country in terms of installed new energy power capacity per square kilometer, which has reached 470 kW.

According to the region's development plan, by 2025 its installed capacity of new energy power generation will exceed 55 million kW, accounting for more than 60 percent of the region's total power generation capacity, with the annual new energy power output exceeding 85 billion kWh.

China plans to bring its total installed wind and solar power generation capacity to 1.2 billion kW by 2030, with installed power generation capacity at large wind and photovoltaic power bases in the Gobi Desert, as well as other desert or arid areas in the country, totaling 455 million kW.