Northwest Photovoltaic Solar Power Station

Is northwest China a good place for solar energy development?

Northwest China has abundant solar energy resources and extensive land, making it a pivotal site for solar energy development. However, restrictions on site selection and severe weather conditions have hindered the establishment and operation of photovoltaic (PV) power stations.

Where are PV power stations located in China?

PV power stations in the Northwest tend to be developed in the form of large-scale centralized PV parks. Land used for PV power stations were mainly converted from Gobi desert, sandy land, sparse and moderate grassland. The focus of China’s PV industry is shifting from the northwest to the south and east.

Why are PV power stations growing in China?

Energy policies are the main factor driving the rapid development of PV power stations in China (Fig. 10 a) (Yang et al., 2020). Since 2004, China’s PV production has experienced tremendous growth due to the dramatic increase in demand for PV in European countries and reached number one in the world in 2007 (Xu, 2016).

How many ground-mounted PV power stations are there in China?

According to our dataset, China has a total of 2467.7 km 2 ground-mounted PV power stations in 2020. The top three largest provinces refer to Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Qinghai, whose PV area ratio are 14.92%, 12.49% and 11.26%, respectively, with a total of nearly 40% of all the PV power stations of China.

Why are photovoltaic power stations being built in Asia?

... Coupled with declines in the prices of solar photovoltaic panels, the requirement for clean energy exponentially boosted the construction of photovoltaic power stations in recent decades in Asia, specifically in the arid and semi-arid regions of northwest China.

Should PV power stations be monitored?

The monitoring of PV power stations would be meaningful for both researchers and government officials. As mentioned above, the last decade has witnessed the widespread of PV power stations in China, where much previous gobi, grassland, water bodies and mountain land have now been covered by newly-built PV power stations (Fig. 1).