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Original title: Xinjiang: Photovoltaic + sand control integration to build a desert ecological barrier

Title: Photovoltaic + sand control integration to build a desert ecological barrier

Xinhua News Agency reporter Du Gang

Starting from Korla, Xinjiang, driving southeast along the Wuruo Expressway into the "Sea of ​​Death" - the heart of the Taklimakan Desert, a photovoltaic power station with the words "Shagohuang Photovoltaic Ecological Sand Control Demonstration Project" comes into view. Under the photovoltaic panels and outside the photovoltaic power station, green and yellow reed stalks are inserted into the sand to form a "Go board"-like grass grid, tightly surrounding the yellow sand.

The Shagohuang photovoltaic ecological sand control demonstration project area. (Photo by Wang Qian)

This photovoltaic power station is located in the northeast of the Taklimakan Desert, with an installed capacity of 300 megawatts. It is one of the first batch of large-scale wind power and photovoltaic base projects in my country focusing on deserts, Gobi and wasteland areas.

Zhang Duorong, a project staff member, said that the power station started construction in February 2023 and was connected to the grid in October of that year. So far, in less than a year, the power station has generated more than 220 million kWh of electricity, equivalent to reducing standard coal consumption by about 66,500 tons and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 179,000 tons.

On the 15th, Zhu Xuewei and his colleagues from a sand control company completed the final work of sand fixation with grass grids. He said that for a 100-megawatt photovoltaic power station, the construction of grass grids under the photovoltaic panels and outside the photovoltaic power station would cover an area of ​​about 75,000 square meters, which would take about one and a half months. "We have been doing sand fixation with grass grids for 10 years, starting with the desert highway in Xinjiang, around the power towers in the desert, and other photovoltaic projects."

Zhang Duorong said that before the grass grid was built, whenever there was wind, the roads inside the power station became "washboard roads", and the underground support foundations under the photovoltaic panels were exposed up to 15 centimeters. The grass grid has a significant effect on sand fixation. At the same time, photovoltaic panels can also effectively reduce surface wind speed and wind erosion, thereby stabilizing sand and preventing sand dunes from moving.

The Shagohuang photovoltaic ecological sand control demonstration project area. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Du Gang

Xinjiang is rich in desert, Gobi, desert wind and solar energy resources, with great potential for development. In November 2021, the state compiled the first list of large-scale wind power and photovoltaic base construction projects focusing on desert, Gobi and desertified areas, and Xinjiang is one of the development areas.

In order to ensure that these new energy sources can be sent out and used, Xinjiang has timely started the preliminary and construction work of the supporting power grid transmission project in combination with the construction and demand of new energy grid connection, to ensure that the timing of the new energy project itself matches the construction of the transmission project. So far, all 5.4 million kilowatts of new energy projects in Xinjiang's first batch of "Shagohuang" have been connected to the grid for power generation, and some of them have achieved wind and sand fixation through grass grids and other methods.

This year, Xinjiang proposed nine measures to carry out the battle to block the edge of the Taklimakan Desert, including deploying photovoltaic projects, strengthening funding, water and land guarantees, and optimizing sand control project procedures.