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Deep within the Kubuqi desert in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, rows of blue photo voltaic panels glisten underneath the winter solar, changing daylight into electrical energy that flows into 1000’s of households. Sandy and largely devoid of life, the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia as soon as had a status for being a “sea of loss of life.”
Now, in response to NASA monitoring solar energy developments in China, China’s dune fields have turn into a sea of photo voltaic power, reworked by a surge of newly put in photo voltaic panels. The development is a part of China’s multiyear plan to construct a “photo voltaic nice wall” designed to generate sufficient power to energy Beijing. China is now the world’s greatest producer of solar energy.
The undertaking, anticipated to be completed in 2030, shall be 400 kilometers (250 miles) lengthy, 5 kilometers (3 miles) extensive, and obtain a most producing capability of 100 gigawatts. So far, Chinese officers say they’ve put in about 5.4 gigawatts. NASA captured images from 2017 to 2024 to indicate how rapidly the plant has expanded.
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China wall of Sun, by way of NASA
The Kubuqi’s sunny climate, flat terrain, and proximity to industrial facilities make it a fascinating location for solar energy technology. Panels are being put in in an extended, slender band of dunes simply south of the Yellow River between the cities of Baotou and Bayannur. NASA’s OLI (Operational Land Imager) and OLI-2 on Landsat 8 and 9 captured this pair of photos displaying the increasing footprint of photo voltaic farms between December 2017 (left) and December 2024 (proper).
The photo voltaic farm that resembles a galloping horse—Junma Solar Power Station—was accomplished in 2019, setting a Guinness world report for the biggest picture product of photo voltaic panels.
It generates roughly 2 billion kilowatt-hours of electrical energy annually, sufficient to fulfill the yearly electrical energy wants of 300,000 to 400,000 folks.
Junma means “high-quality horse” in Mandarin.
In addition to producing energy, planners hope that the set up can have different advantages. They assume it might assist curb desertification by stopping the motion of dunes and slowing winds. Also, the elevated panels create shade that slows evaporation and will make it simpler to develop pasture grasses and different crops beneath them. Analysis of Landsat information signifies that photo voltaic tasks have contributed to the greening of deserts in different components of China lately.
Since 2024 China leads the world in photo voltaic power manufacturing
As of June 2024, China led the world in working photo voltaic farm capability with 386,875 megawatts, representing about 51 % of the worldwide whole, in response to Global Energy Monitor’s Global Solar Power Tracker.
The United States ranks second with 79,364 megawatts (11 %), adopted by India with 53,114 megawatts (7 %).
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The photo voltaic nice wall in China
China’s photo voltaic progress has been notably speedy in the course of the previous decade. Between 2017 and 2023, the nation’s operational photo voltaic capability surged by a median of 39,994 megawatts per yr. The photo voltaic capability of the United States expanded by a median of 8,137 megawatts over the identical interval.
Beneath the panels, several types of shrubs stand tall regardless of their dormant yellowed leaves, shielding the land from wind and sand.
“By the top of 2023, this one-gigawatt solar energy undertaking was efficiently related to the grid, remodeling over 30,000 mu (about 2,000 hectares) of desert right into a sea of photo voltaic blue, with thriving vegetation flourishing beneath the panels,” mentioned Na Guiting, who’s accountable for the photo voltaic nice wall undertaking.
The undertaking Na is engaged on is the primary part of the Kubuqi Desert Ordos Central-Northern New Energy Base.
As one in all China’s first large-scale renewable power bases with a capability exceeding 10 gigawatts, the bottom is about to develop eight gigawatts of solar energy, 4 gigawatts of wind energy, and 4 gigawatts of supporting coal energy.
The electrical energy generated shall be transmitted to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area by means of an built-in system combining photo voltaic, wind, coal, and power storage, with 230,000 mu devoted to photovoltaic sand management.
Once the undertaking is accomplished, it should ship roughly 40 billion kilowatt-hours of electrical energy yearly to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, with over 50 % coming from clear power sources, in response to Na.
It is equal to saving about 6 million tonnes of normal coal and decreasing carbon dioxide emissions by round 16 million tonnes annually, Na added.
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The photo voltaic nice wall
The Kubuqi undertaking exemplifies China’s broader effort to combine renewable power with ecological restoration. In the arid expanses of northern China, superior know-how is reshaping the battle in opposition to desertification, turning it right into a narrative of resilience and renewal.
“I by no means would have imagined that as a farmer, I may discover work within the sand dunes,” mentioned Qin Zhaoping, a resident of Hengliang Township in Gansu’s Gulang County. His job entails adjusting the sprinkler irrigation programs beneath photovoltaic panels and tending to the thriving sand vegetation.
According to official information, 53 % of China’s treatable desertified land has been restored, resulting in a internet discount of roughly 4.33 million hectares of degraded land.
In November 2024, a three-gigawatt solar energy station in Otog Front Banner of Ordos, constructed by CHN Energy Investment Group, was related to the grid. It is at the moment the biggest single-capacity solar energy base constructed on a coal mining subsidence zone in China.
The energy station is anticipated to generate 5.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electrical energy yearly, ample to fulfill the yearly power wants of two million households.
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