A photovoltaic power station in northwest China's Qinghai Province has turned a once barren land into a renewable energy hub, simultaneously generating electricity while making exemplary contributions to local economic development and ecological conservation efforts.
Covering 609 square kilometers, the Qinghai Talatan Photovoltaic Power Station in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, boasts a power generation capacity of 8,430 megawatts, making it the largest in the world. It hosts 91 energy enterprises, which include 63 solar photovoltaic power enterprises and 28 wind power enterprises.
In the power station, a larger facility is currently under construction, comprising projects with 900,000 kilowatts of photovoltaic energy and 100,000 kilowatts of photothermal energy.
"We are installing heliostats. Each heliostat will automatically reflect sunlight to the distant heat absorption screen continuously, adjusting to the angle of the sun, just like a sunflower," said Qiao Hongfei, vice president of Guoneng (Gonghe) New Energy Development Co., Ltd.
More than 23,000 heliostats will be installed here, reflecting sunlight over an area of 700,000 square meters to the heat absorption tower in the center. The heat energy generated by the concentrated light can reach temperatures of 500 to 600 degrees Celsius. This collected thermal energy is then converted into electrical energy through a turbine generator.
And a large thermal storage tank will be constructed in the area to store energy and generate electricity at night and on cloudy days.
The thermal storage tank contains 29,000 tons of molten salt, which can produce electricity continuously for 12 hours after being heated.
"In this way, it can continuously release the stored heat at night or on cloudy days, allowing for the long-term uninterrupted operation of the unit and overcoming the limitation of photovoltaic systems, which cannot generate electricity during those times," said Qiao.
The facility is expected to be completed and operational next year. At that time, solar energy will be harnessed to generate green electricity continuously, with photothermal and photovoltaic systems effectively complementing each other.
Talatan is also witnessing drastic changes.
More than 10 years ago, Talatan was a "barren land," with desertified land accounting for 98.5 percent of the total area. Sandstorms drove many residents away and severely impacted the ecological security of the nearby Yellow River.
However, since the establishment of the photovoltaic power station, the average wind speed in the area has decreased by 50 percent, and vegetation coverage has reached 80 percent. Local herders have also begun raising sheep under the photovoltaic panels, which has led to increased income for the local community.
"After the completion of these photovoltaic panels, the amount of fresh grass in the park is four times greater than that outside the park. As a result, local herdsmen are willing to graze their sheep in our solar farm. On the one hand, this addresses their grazing needs; on the other, it prevents tall grasses from shading the solar panels as they grow," said Qeyang, deputy director of the management committee of green industry development park in Hainan Tibetan autonomous prefecture.
So far, 12 "photovoltaic sheep farms" have been built in Hainan prefecture. In 2023 alone, these farms sold 13,000 "photovoltaic sheep," bringing herdsmen a total income of 11 million yuan (about 1.57 million U.S. dollars), according the department of publicity of the prefectural government.
Solar farm in Qinghai improves local ecosystems, economies
