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
A freelance writer from Australia has decided to become a permanent resident in China after living and working in Guangdong for 20 years, during which he has cycled through the country to see a real China and has witnessed the significant changes in the country.
Jerry Grey, 66, made his home in Zhongshan City of south China's Guangdong Province in 2004. The night he arrived in the city, he realized he had been misinformed about China.
"This used to be a supermarket. And my first day here, it was very late at night, 11, 12 o'clock at night. I got out of the car and walked through the supermarket and saw all the things that I carried with me from Australia. I had new shampoos and body washes and razor blades, all the things that I was told online you can't get these things in China, so you better buy them before you go. So I bought them all in Australia and carried them all to China. And I was misinformed. I didn't need to buy any of these things at all, because they're all cheaper here as well. I had to pay excess baggage in the airline because I was carrying so much weight. So that was a very strange experience. I also bought two bottles of Australian wine. And I can buy that in the supermarket, too," Grey said.
While serving as an English teacher at a foreign language school in Zhongshan, Grey spent a lot of his spare time traveling across China and fell in love with the welcoming people, beautiful landscapes, local cuisines, and a Chinese woman, who became his wife in 2009.
In 2014, Grey made a "crazy" decision to travel to Xinjiang by bicycle with a photographer friend, who is also a foreign expatriate.
"We left Zhongshan, traveled north into Hunan, and then Hubei, and then turned slightly northwest through Shaanxi, and then into Gansu, Ningxia, and across to Xinjiang. So that was quite an extended ride. That was 5,000 kilometers," Grey said.
It took them 57 days to finish that trip and finally see the magnificent views around Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang.
"And the idea is that we want to see China. One of the most incredible things about riding a bike is the authenticity of the country, the real part of China," Grey said.
Grey has published a picture album titled "57 Days across China" to keep his memories alive and show people what he had seen during the journey. The funds raised from sales of the books have been used to help the people with disabilities in Zhongshan.
Over the past decade, Grey has ridden 35,000 kilometers in China, and his wife Liang Yuhua joined him in 2019.
In doing so, they have raised significant sums of money for people with disabilities and witnessed impressive changes in villages, where wide roads, modern home-stay hotels and restaurants have become common features in the past few years.
"In 2019, I noticed the significant changes when riding with Jerry. Especially, some rural areas are so clean that we didn't see any garbage. And the waste classification bins were placed neatly. So I told Jerry, 'see how great the changes that have happened in China over the years'," Liang said.
After retirement, Grey became a freelance writer. He has been posting videos on social media about what he has seen in China, including the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link and the Village Basketball Association, an amateur rural basketball event that has become a nationwide sports phenomenon.
In recent years, Grey is impressed by the increasingly easier life in China, even for foreign travelers.
"So foreigners can actually open bank accounts in China. They can use WeChat and Alipay very, very simply as long as they're prepared before they arrive. Chinese payments are as convenient as it is possible to be," Grey said.
A few days ago, Grey went to the immigration office of Zhongshan and applied for a foreign permanent resident ID card.
"I think the time is right. I've lived here for 20 years, but for most of that time, I lived here on working permits and residence visas. Then when I retired from work, I'm on a spousal visa. And I think the time is right, because it gives me the card that I can travel around China without carrying my passport. And it becomes much more convenient. It's going quite smoothly. At the moment, we're waiting for the police checks to come back," he said.
Australian expat sees real China on bicycle
