An expansive solar farm, visible from space and covering an area the size of Paris, has been constructed in the Kubuqi desert in Inner Mongolia. This massive project is a key component of China’s ambitious energy transition, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2060.
Project Details and Goals:
- Immense Scale: China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is aggressively pursuing desert solar projects. The installation in Kubuqi alone spans over 100 square kilometers.
- National Targets: China has pledged to increase its wind and solar capacity to more than six times its 2020 levels. The country’s solar capacity has grown so rapidly that it has overshot a government target nearly six years ahead of schedule.
- Carbon Neutrality: Desert solar is a crucial part of China’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet its 2060 carbon neutrality goal.
Challenges and Solutions:
- Environmental Obstacles: The desert environment poses significant challenges, including sandstorms that can degrade equipment, blistering temperatures that reduce efficiency, and sand accumulation that requires water for cleaning.
- Technological Innovation: The solar panels in Kubuqi are equipped with self-cleaning ventilators and double-sided cells to capture reflected light, designed to overcome these issues.
- Infrastructure Bottlenecks: A major challenge is the long distance between the desert installations and energy-hungry urban centers. The rapid growth of solar capacity has outpaced the development of the power grid, leading to energy loss and congestion on power lines.
Local and Climatic Impacts:
- Local Economic Transition: The solar farms have spurred a new tourism industry in the Kubuqi desert, with attractions like quad bike tours and camel rides providing a new source of income for locals who previously worked in the coal industry.
- Climatic Effects: Scientists note that the heat absorption over such large areas could change atmospheric flows and potentially lead to “negative secondary effects,” such as a reduction in rainfall elsewhere.
- Fossil Fuel Reliance: Despite the massive investment in solar, China has not abandoned fossil fuels. Coal power remains a significant part of the energy mix, particularly in Inner Mongolia, and the country has brought more coal power online this year than at any time since 2016.
