The "Solar Power Great Wall" Rises in China's Seventh Largest Desert

The Kubuqi Desert, China's seventh largest desert, is located in the "J-shaped Bend" of the Yellow River, an area that was once known as the "Sea of Death" and posed a threat to the ecological security of the "J-shaped Bend" of the Yellow River. Thanks to the efforts of the local people, over 6,000 square kilometers of the desert have been covered with greenery. The efforts to restore the desert continue. In the past two years, a "Solar Power Great Wall" for desert control has been laid out in the area, combining points, lines and surfaces, to promote the governance of China's seventh largest desert and prevent the invasion of shifting sands into the "J-shaped Bend" of the Yellow River. This "Solar Power Great Wall" for desert control integrates three functions: solar power generation, ecological restoration, and income increase, exploring the path of green and low-carbon development and jointly building a beautiful and clean world, providing a "Chinese solution" for global desertification control.

In Chaideng Gacha, Zhaojun Town, Dalate Banner, Ordos City, 3.46 million blue photovoltaic panels rise and fall with the undulating Kubuqi Desert, like waves in the vast sea of sand, forming a "sea" of 45,000 mu of photovoltaic panels. Since 2017, a 50,000-mu, 1 million-kilowatt national third batch photovoltaic application leading base has been completed in the heart of the Kubuqi Desert, achieving full capacity grid connection and power generation.

Not only this 1 million-kilowatt photovoltaic base, but also throughout the northern edge of the Kubuqi Desert, large and small photovoltaic bases are being connected to form a line, and a spectacular "Solar Power Great Wall" for desert control is rising in the sand sea.

According to Li Tianyun, deputy director of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Ordos City, the "Solar Power Great Wall" for desert control in the Kubuqi Desert is a descriptive concept, an image metaphor for the relatively concentrated, intermittent and linear layout of major national new energy photovoltaic projects that have been completed, are under construction, or are planned in the northern edge of the Kubuqi Desert. "The 'Solar Power Great Wall' for desert control built in the northern edge of the Kubuqi Desert and south of the Yellow River is a continuation of photovoltaic projects on the bare sand of the Kubuqi Desert. After full completion, the area of photovoltaic desert control will exceed 2 million mu. Currently, the city has built a total of 5.42 million kilowatts of photovoltaic projects and over 200,000 mu of photovoltaic desert control area."

Previously, the main application scenarios of photovoltaic power generation in China were ground-mounted photovoltaic, water-mounted photovoltaic, and rooftop photovoltaic. What are the advantages of building a "Solar Power Great Wall" for desert control in the desert? Xu Ming, the president of the International Industrial Ecology Society, said that using photovoltaic power generation for desert control is an innovative solution with great potential. Take the Kubuqi Desert as an example. On the one hand, there are abundant land resources here, providing sufficient space for the layout of photovoltaic facilities and the implementation of related desert control projects. On the other hand, the average annual sunshine duration here is 3,100 hours, with rich solar energy resources, which helps ensure the efficiency and output of photovoltaic power generation. In addition, Ordos City has built two ultra-high voltage power transmission channels, namely the Mengxi to Tianjin South and Shanghaimiao to Shandong, and is accelerating the construction of two more power transmission channels, ensuring the availability of power transmission channels.

Entering the Jiaao Photovoltaic Industry Chain Low-carbon Demonstration Base project site in Ordos City, cranes are everywhere, and factories and office buildings are rising from the ground. This project with a total investment of 28 billion yuan is being accelerated. "The project is planned to be completed and put into production by the end of 2025. By then, it will form a vertically integrated production base covering silicon ingot, silicon wafers, batteries and modules in the photovoltaic industry," said Huang Bowei, director of the Development and Reform Commission of Ordos City.

Huang Bowei introduced that during the process of building the "photovoltaic Great Wall" for sand control, Ordos City has coordinated the development of the photovoltaic industry and equipment manufacturing, attracted photovoltaic module and other production enterprises to set up factories, and created a new energy equipment manufacturing industrial cluster to boost high-quality economic development.