Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Office of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, and the Comprehensive Department of the National Energy Administration issued a notice on supporting the development of the photovoltaic power generation industry and regulating land management. Under the premise of strict ecological protection, they encouraged the construction of large-scale photovoltaic bases in deserts, Gobi, deserts and other areas. By making good use of the "Sha Ge Huang", Zhongwei City in Ningxia has taken the lead in the country.

Seeking Energy Transformation

Drive from Zhongwei downtown to the northwest for more than 20 kilometers to Tengger Desert. The Tengger Desert is the fourth largest desert in China. However, from both sides of the desert road, the sand dunes are no longer tall or continuous, because they are separated by pieces of azure photovoltaic panels. In September last year, the National Development and Reform Commission approved the construction plan of large-scale wind power photovoltaic bases in the desert of Ningxia, specifying that a new 10 million kilowatt new energy base will be built in Zhongwei, Wuzhong and Guyuan in the southeast of Tengger Desert. In April this year, Tengger Desert Photovoltaic 3GW Phase I Project has entered the power generation stage.

In 2012, Ningxia was approved by the state as the first comprehensive demonstration zone for new energy in China. Among them, Zhongwei is one of the areas with the best scenic resources in Ningxia. The area under its jurisdiction is mostly known as the "Shage Wasteland", with a relatively flat terrain, suitable for large-scale centralized development and construction of large-scale wind and solar power bases. It is truly a fertile land for new energy development.

Over the past decade, the photovoltaic industry in Zhongwei has developed rapidly, achieving large-scale development, and building a million kilowatt photovoltaic power station with demonstration and promotion effects in the northwest and even across the country. "Wan Liling, Director of the Energy and Transportation Department of the Zhongwei Development and Reform Commission, introduced that in 2022, the total installed capacity of new energy in Zhongwei City reached 8.82 million kilowatts, accounting for nearly one-third of Ningxia. The cumulative generation of new energy from Zhongwei Power Grid is 14.15 billion kilowatt hours, with a growth rate of over 10% for five consecutive years.

In addition to the aforementioned advantages, there are two key points that contribute to the rapid development of photovoltaic power generation in Zhongwei Desert. Firstly, the compact location of Ningxia's "Sha Ge Huang" makes it easier to plan and layout new energy industries such as photovoltaics, making the industrial layout economical and scientific. Secondly, as a national base for transmitting electricity from the west to the east, Ningxia has a strong advantage in resource allocation due to its stable power supply and complete infrastructure such as the power grid. We have also established a mechanism for prioritizing the dispatch of new energy, improving consumption capacity, reducing waste electricity, and ensuring stable power generation, transmission, and transmission, "said Chen Yu, the on duty dispatcher of the regional dispatch team of the State Grid Zhongwei Electric Power Company.

At present, with Zhongwei City as the power transmission terminal, Ningxia is implementing the "Ningdian to Hunan" project, opening up a new export channel mainly focused on new energy electricity. This will promote Ningxia's export capacity from 14 million kilowatt hours to 22 million kilowatt hours, and the annual export electricity will exceed 100 billion kilowatt hours, helping Ningxia's energy transformation and development. According to the plan, by 2025, the installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation in Zhongwei City will exceed 18.5 million kilowatt hours. At present, 74 centralized photovoltaic power stations that have been put into operation in Zhongwei City are basically located in Zhongwei, Tengger Desert, so that some people jokingly claim that Zhongwei's desert is not enough.

Building a New Road to Sand Control

The desert photovoltaic power stations in Zhongwei City are not only built many times, but also used well.

Last September, the State Power Investment Corporation's Wuling Power Yuding Photovoltaic Power Station in Zhongwei City invited herdsmen to graze sheep at the station. In the middle of the blue photovoltaic panels, there is lush green grass, and white sheep are leisurely grazing. After this image was spread online, it attracted social attention and became a typical case of using the photovoltaic industry to promote desert ecological governance in the western region.

I didn't expect to become popular online. The reason why we introduced sheep to the power station to graze is that the desert environment in the power station has gradually improved in recent years, and the photovoltaic panels have greatly reduced water evaporation due to blocking sunlight, accelerating the growth rate of the grass. In order to avoid the height of the grass exceeding 30 centimeters from blocking the photovoltaic panels and affecting power generation, we invite sheep from surrounding farmers to graze every day Introduction by Ding Jie, the station manager of Yuding Photovoltaic Power Station of State Power Investment Corporation Wuling Power.

The large-scale development of desert photovoltaic power generation not only endows new value to electricity through the production of green electricity - environmental value, but also greatly restores and increases vegetation, becoming a new way of desert governance. And this is particularly important for Zhongwei City. Because the flowing sand dunes in Tengger Desert often move to the southeast, Zhongwei City is located at the southeast edge of Tengger Desert, surrounded by sand on three sides, with heavy wind sand. In history, sand dunes have been pushed into the urban area of Zhongwei City. Therefore, the task of sand control and prevention in Zhongwei City is very heavy.

In 1958, in order to protect the Baolan Railway passing through the desert of Zhongwei City, with the guidance and assistance of desertification control experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongwei City began to control and afforestation, creating the world-renowned grass grid sand fixation method, ensuring the unobstructed passage of the Baolan Railway, and creating a great achievement in China's desertification control science. Now, after decades of arduous competition with the desert, guided by the new development concept, Zhongwei City has opened up a new win-win path of "green energy development+desert governance", created a "dual green demonstration zone", and provided more options for desertification control.

Entering the photovoltaic power plant of China Energy Conservation Zhongwei Solar Power Generation Co., Ltd., the office area is filled with weeping willows and vitality. In the photovoltaic power generation area, the coverage rate of tumbleweed and reed has reached 70%. The person in charge of the power station, Jiao Fudong, introduced that the power station covers an area of over 1800 acres. During construction in 2013, wheat straw squares were planted in the photovoltaic area, and grass seeds were scattered. Every three years, areas with missing grass squares were repaired, and trees were continuously planted around the yard. Grass squares have the function of sand fixation. If grass squares are not planted, strong winds and sand can cause the vertical exposed spiral piles of photovoltaic panel supports to collapse. Therefore, for desert photovoltaic power stations, sand control and prevention are necessary, and relevant investment such as funds is positive, "Jiao Fudong said.

The photovoltaic power plant of Xinhua Power Generation Ningxia Qingyang New Energy Co., Ltd., located not far away, has a green office area with lush pine trees and sprouting goji trees. It is understood that the power station was built in 2013 and covers an area of over 3000 acres. In the past two years, the company has invested 2.05 million yuan to further improve the ecological environment of the power station. Among them, 819000 yuan has been invested in planting 1300 acres of grass squares in the photovoltaic area, expanding the sand fixation belt and improving the sand fixation capacity. The remaining investment has been made in environmental greening and irrigation facilities, "said Pan Aimin, the company's safety supervisor.

Compared with traditional state-owned forest farms and individual desertification control, the driving force and management level of photovoltaic desertification control are different. Firstly, photovoltaic enterprises must control and prevent desertification to ensure the safety of power station facilities. Secondly, photovoltaic panels need to be cleaned with water every year. In addition, photovoltaic panels reduce the evaporation of ground water, which is beneficial for the growth of sandy plants. Each power station has a dedicated person to manage and protect it, solving the long-standing problem of "having humans but lacking human management" in the western sand prevention forest belt. The most important thing is that the investment in sand control in power plants only accounts for a small portion of the economic benefits of power generation, with a light burden on sand control and high enthusiasm for enterprise sand control. Therefore, photovoltaic power plants greatly ensure the efficiency and sustainability of sand control and prevention.

Drive industrial development

The large-scale development of desert photovoltaic power generation in Zhongwei City has attracted upstream and downstream enterprises in the domestic photovoltaic industry, and is forming a remarkable photovoltaic industry cluster.

Entering the Zhongwei Industrial Park, rows of the most advanced single crystal furnaces in the industry are eye-catching in the newly built single crystal factory of Ningxia GCL Crystal Technology Development Co., Ltd. In the workshop, automatic guided transport vehicles shuttle back and forth. It is understood that all of the equipment in this batch uses advanced centralized control systems for single crystal furnaces, achieving interconnection between MES and centralized control, and being able to capture real-time on-site data. On January 16th of this year, the first sequence single crystal furnace of Ningxia GCL Photovoltaic 5GW granular silicon N-type single crystal demonstration project was officially put into operation. At present, the company aims to feed 100% granular silicon and focuses on building a demonstration base for FBR granular silicon single crystal manufacturing in the Zhongwei region.

Ningxia Longji Silicon Materials Co., Ltd. is a national high-tech enterprise that fully utilizes the resource advantages of Zhongwei City, committed to the specialization and large-scale manufacturing of solar materials, and leads the monocrystalline silicon market with technological innovation. The multiple crystallization techniques and efficient crystallization techniques developed by it have reduced non silicon costs by 12.79% year-on-year, forming a significant cost advantage. We strive to expand and optimize high-quality products, and some innovative projects have been launched to become a leading enterprise in the monocrystalline silicon industry, "said Zhou Haifu, the company's technical director.

Photovoltaic power generation cannot do without energy storage. Entering the production workshop of Ningxia Zhonghua Lithium Battery Materials Co., Ltd., workers are producing NCM ternary materials. Liu Ping, the general manager of the company, said, "The new energy storage project is like a super power bank. It can store the electricity generated by solar and wind energy, which cannot enter the large power grid temporarily, and then enter the grid as needed. Lithium batteries are important new energy storage equipment, and we have completed an annual production of 10000 tons of NCM cathode material project, which is currently in full production

Nowadays, many enterprises in Zhongwei City, including photovoltaic enterprises, are using local green electricity to fully transition to low-carbon development. We actively carry out visits to enterprises within the network to understand their green electricity needs, encourage new energy generation such as photovoltaic and wind power to participate in transactions, open up green electricity procurement channels, establish a carbon emission offset mechanism for green electricity, and encourage enterprises to purchase green electricity, "said Sun Yuanqiang, Minister of the Party and Mass Department of State Grid Zhongwei Power Supply Company.

In the future, the photovoltaic industry in Zhongwei City will continue to "expand", develop desert ecological tourism, drive characteristic planting and breeding industries, and promote the integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries through "photovoltaic+" to better benefit humanity in the desert.