China accelerates the exploitation of solar energy

To reduce dependence on coal and oil, China will build two large solar power plants this year in two western highland provinces, Qinghai and Yunnan. The project in Thanh Hai with an initial investment of 1 billion yuan (about 146 million USD), when completed, could become the world's largest solar power plant.

Diangujinjiang International Hotel in Hebei Province is the first hotel in China equipped with a solar generator.In the photo: Glass roof with solar power inside the hotel.

A month ago, Yunnan Province announced the imminent launch of a 166-megawatt solar power plant with a total investment of 9.1 yuan - considered China's largest-scale project at the time of its announcement. project. Meanwhile, the first solar power plant in China's national grid was put into operation in the Tengger desert in Gansu province in late December. In the first phase, the plant only operates at 50% capacity (1 megawatt design capacity). The plant will operate at full capacity by the end of the year when construction is completed.

According to the China Renewable Energy Association, the country's potential for solar energy development is huge. Every year, more than two thirds of China's land area receives more than 2,200 hours of sunshine, more than countries and regions with the same latitude as Japan and Europe. With this advantage, the country's potential for solar reserves is estimated at 1,700 billion tons of coal. However, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that the country's solar power sector is still far behind other countries.

According to NDCR, China currently ranks third in the world for solar water heater production and photovoltaic batteries. The most populous country in the world aims to increase the rate of renewable energy consumption to 10% by 2020 on the total energy consumption across the country.