In 2012, a major project was under construction in Gonghe County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
Our country plans to build the largest, most efficient, and most capable photovoltaic power plant in the Taratan Desert here, fully utilizing local conditions to create more pollution-free energy advantages for our country.
After entering the 21st century, China’s industrial system has experienced rapid development, with balanced deployment of light and heavy industries and gradual improvement of manufacturing categories.
Every progress in the industrial sector cannot be achieved without energy.
However, traditional energy applications will inevitably bring irreparable damage to the environment, and social construction projects have put forward more requirements for the development of new energy.

Electricity is a category of pollution-free energy, including hydropower, thermal power, and nuclear power. More and more power plants are appearing on the land of China.
In recent years, photovoltaic power generation has become a hot topic.
By utilizing professional equipment for conversion, solar energy resources can be transformed into usable electricity resources to achieve large-scale energy development, which is also a new business model.
But building large photovoltaic power plants in desert areas is a practical project that has never appeared before.
We have no blueprint to draw on, no technology to reference, and most importantly, there are too many natural challenges in desert areas.

The first and most important point is the issue of flying yellow sand.
The vegetation coverage of the desert is very low, and the problem of sandstorms is very serious. If yellow sand dances all over the sky, causing damage to the electrical board, or unable to work properly due to blockage problems, such economic losses will be huge.
From the perspective of social prospects, building photovoltaic power plants is indeed a trend of the times, but specific operations will encounter many obstacles that are difficult to overcome.
However, even so, the project team that proposed the plan is still full of confidence, as they have preliminary plans for the issue of sandstorms.
Since sandstorms are caused by low vegetation coverage, they adopt the most primitive method to solve them and increase desert vegetation.
But at the same time, they don’t consider planting trees, they only consider planting grass.

Grass has a stronger vitality and can better adapt to relatively dry environments. Moreover, as long as there are patches of grassland on the surface, the grass roots can grasp the yellow sand.
In 2012, the approval was officially approved, and the construction of photovoltaic power plants was also fully carried out.
Experts choose to start construction at a time when the sandstorm problem is relatively slow, using artificial techniques to sow grass seeds and increase the moisture content of the surface.
However, the longer daylight hours on Tara Beach during the day will inevitably lead to problems with the grass species. Therefore, the artificial team must constantly monitor the changes in the grassland and provide assistance in cooling and increasing water when necessary.

Fortunately, the most difficult time in the early stage was successfully overcome, and after the installation of the photovoltaic panels, the growth problem of the grassland was easily solved.
The area of the electric board is relatively large, which can absorb a large amount of light for the grassland. Under their protection, fresh grass does not need to be dried up due to strong sunlight.
The sudden drop in local temperature creates a huge contrast with the surrounding environment temperature, which can take effect every night.
When water vapor encounters photovoltaic panels with relatively low surface temperatures, it will immediately liquefy into small water droplets and land on grasslands.
In a sense, this can be considered as precipitation in the local internal circulation.

In addition, when manually cleaning photovoltaic panels, the water droplets flowing from the panels will directly flow into the surface, adding water resources to the grassland.
Over time, the moisture content of the grassland becomes higher and higher, the vegetation coverage increases significantly, the problem of sandstorms is alleviated, and the danger factor of the electric board will also decrease significantly.
Photovoltaic panels and grasslands have become symbiotic partners, providing each other with energy and security, and making the Tara Beach desert completely different.

Natural pasture, unexpected harvest

But when natural problems are solved, new problems come to our doorstep.
The moisture content of the grassland is too high, to the point where fresh grass grows wildly, and its height is already close to that of photovoltaic panels, seriously affecting their absorption of solar energy.
The urgent task is to control the scale of the grassland within a reasonable range.
The amount of work that can be done manually is too large, and the cost is also too high, which will exacerbate the already tight engineering projects.
And at the beginning, the team also tried manual weeding, but within a few weeks, the grassland returned to its original state and the problem was not fundamentally solved.

Just when everyone was at a loss, a person in charge found inspiration.
When he went to the pastoral living area near Tara Beach to relax, he happened to see a herder herding sheep.
The two immediately chatted, and the herdsmen confided in him about their troubles:

“We’re still too dry here, it’s hard to find grass. My sheep are all starving and thin, and some of my friends’ sheep don’t even have to eat.”

The herdsmen are very distressed because they cannot find fresh grass, and the construction team has encountered too much fresh grass, so they are also very distressed.
If both parties can cooperate, they can solve problems for each other and achieve win-win results.

Thinking of this, the person in charge was overjoyed and quickly returned to the park to discuss this matter with colleagues.
Everyone slapped their heads and exclaimed that their thoughts were limited. How could they not have thought of such a good solution before?
So, the team began inviting herdsmen to come to the park to graze sheep, and as the construction base area expanded, the grassland area also continued to expand.
This is a paradise for sheep, they eat happily, the longer they grow, the better.
At the same time, sheep eating grass will not damage the grass roots, so the foundation of the grassland is still there and can continue to grow, continuing to play a role in windbreak and sand fixation.

By chance, a ranch was formed here, and a scholar exclaimed:

“This is the biggest surprise of our work trip. Originally, we just wanted to build a power plant, but who would have thought that we eventually built a ranch.”

As herders gradually scaled up their grazing, the construction team and herders signed a long-term agreement, where both parties could provide more employment opportunities for herders while each taking what they needed.
The daily cleaning of photovoltaic panels requires manpower, the maintenance and upkeep of grasslands require manpower, logistics work requires manpower, and even manual labor is needed.
And these job vacancies can be filled by herdsmen.

The construction team fully utilizes the local manpower advantages, reduces labor costs, and at the same time, herdsmen can also have additional income and work more wholeheartedly.
Rather than saying it has become an industrial park for photovoltaic power plants, it is more like a demonstration park for industrial and agricultural cooperation. The combination of power plants and pastures also provides more experience and inspiration for practice in other regions.
A herdsman later said in an interview:

“Thanks to the country’s policies, many people here have lived a good life. Our sheep are very fat and beautiful, and our lives are also very fulfilling. I never thought before that this poor place could have such an opportunity.”

Electricity is amazing and has a huge impact

The construction project ten years ago is now playing an indispensable role in the country’s industrial system.
The current Taratan Photovoltaic Power Park can generate an astonishing 10 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year on average, and in 2022, its total power generation reached 14.4 billion kilowatt hours.
With a land area of over 600 square kilometers and a significant investment of over 300 million RMB, this valuable photovoltaic power plant has ultimately been built.
Its energy output can not only meet the production and living needs of the northwest, but also be transmitted to the central and eastern regions of China.
And this is closely related to our ultra-high voltage power transmission technology.

The central and eastern provinces are major electricity consuming provinces, with a large population and numerous factories and industrial parks.
The power transmission from west to east is a very important energy transmission project in China.
Last summer, China faced extreme high temperatures, and many cities experienced prolonged power outages due to running out of electricity.
At this point, the electricity in Tara Beach played an important role.

But in fact, China is not the only country that has mastered photovoltaic power generation technology. The United States also has photovoltaic power plants and high-level technological conditions.
However, the problems they face cannot be ignored.

Firstly, the issue of fire is a key focus.

Their power plants do not have natural grassland resources to accompany them, so they lack natural cooling conditions and temperatures rise sharply, making them very prone to fires.
In 2015, a fire broke out at the Solana Optoelectronic Plant in the United States. Over the course of three months, the fire had occurred several times in a row and was quite severe.

 

In addition, the inability to achieve efficient utilization of electricity resources also makes them very anxious.
The United States does not have ultra-high voltage power transmission technology, so the electricity generated by photovoltaic plants can only be used locally.
Other regions in China with severe shortage of electricity resources are basically unable to enjoy the benefits of engineering.
According to statistics, the electricity waste rate of all photovoltaic plants in the United States has exceeded 25% in the past year.
This wastes not only energy, but also money from the finance department.

In recent years, they have been trying their best to solve this problem, and the industrial research and development department has also proposed many construction plans for the power transmission system.
But they still have a long way to go from planning to practice, from practice to ultimate success.
Our Taratan photovoltaic power plant will continue to play a role in the future, leading the global energy construction trend and contributing to China’s industrial development.

epilogue

By chance, a ranch appeared in the power plant.
Tara Beach has fully gathered favorable weather, location, and people, which has solved the problems of sandstorms, grassland, and shortage of manpower in sequence.
In addition to natural advantages, the wisdom of expert teams and working people cannot be ignored.