Photovoltaic panels in Qinghai produce more than power

Photovoltaic panels in northwest China's Qinghai Province not only produce clean power, but also improve the local grassland and environment, while earning more money for herdsmen.

Claiming high intensity of solar radiation, long hours of sunshine, Qinghai is abundant in solar energy. And its dry climate makes it ideal to develop new energy industry.

These advantages have drawn a great number of photovoltaic panel manufacturing companies to set their plants in the province.

"We in Qinghai have around 100,000 square kilometers of land which could be put into the development of new energy. The total amount of solar radiation here probably could rank second in the country. These are unique advantages for us to develop new energy," said Wang Yiyang, Qinghai regional manager of Trinasolar, a global leader in in photovoltaic products, systems and smart energy.

Wang said by shielding barren lands from further attacks from wind and sand, solar panels help nurture the growth of grass to improve local environment. Yet as grass grows higher to reach the panels, electricity they generate might risk to ignite the grass to fire.

"The solar panels could shield the wind and sand. You can see that the grass under the solar panels is lusher than the grass elsewhere. Since the solar power industrial park was established, the vegetation coverage in Talatan (gobi) has reached 80 percent. Now you see the grass is almost as high as up to the solar panels," said Wang.

"So we asked the herdsmen to graze their animals at the photovoltaic power station. One thing is the herdsmen can help us petrol the power station. And the other thing is, they can guarantee that the grass will not grow too high to interfere with power generation. Now the local herdsmen are raising over 20,000 sheep in the park and we produce about 11.8 tons of pasture a year. This has completely solved some herdsmen’s problem of employment," said Wang.

Photovoltaic panels in Qinghai produce more than power

The Indian stock market opened in the red on Thursday as Indian exports to the U.S. face a 27 percent tariff according to the United States' latest trade policy under President Donald Trump.

Economists are warning of the potential impacts on the Indian economy, while the country's Department of Commerce is examining the implications.

Market experts say that Indian equities are likely to experience some fluctuations but will recover after initial losses.

"Tariff means high cost. It means slightly low exports. So the stock markets will react negatively on the first day, but by the second day they will realize that it is basically relative disadvantage," said Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative.

"The worst depression that the global economy has seen in history happened because of the trade war that U.S. had unleashed, and I think we should be reminding ourselves to also be very resolute about what is going on," said Biswajit Dhar, an expert in international trade.

Other Asian countries face a similar situation, but with even higher tariffs. Experts say investors may relocate to India but with conditions.

"Some investors may feel for some labor intensive goods like electronics or garments and textiles, there is a possible chance to relocate to India, but investor needs certainty. They cannot operate in uncertain environment," said Srivastava.

The tariff move is part of the U.S. broader strategy to address the 46-billion-dollar trade deficit between the two countries. Trump has defended his policy, saying that these tariffs are designed to "level the playing field" and encourage fairer trade practices.

Indian stock market opens in red after Trump announces 27 percent tariff