PR93112

SHENZHEN, China, Nov. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

The world's largest renewable energy base showcases how technology can build a

healthy planet

In Chinese, Qinghai means blue waters. Named after Qinghai Lake, China's

largest inland salt lake, Qinghai Province attracted worldwide attention in

November 2020 when two 10 million-kW renewable energy bases were completed in

the Hainan and Haixi prefectures. We took a trip to the PV power station in

Talatan, Gonghe County, 60 km southeast of the lake.

Video Link:

https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1690634/Thoughts_on_a_Blue_Ocean__Final.mp4

As you travel from the provincial capital Xining to Gonghe County, the steep

mountains on both sides of the road gradually recede and the horizon gradually

widens. The azure sky, fluffy clouds, verdant hills, and herds of wandering

cattle and sheep evoke serenity and peace. The white caps of snow on distant

mountains are the only trace of the previous night's wind and snowfall.

10 years of construction

Prior to 2011, the remote and sparsely populated Gonghe County was relatively

unknown. When construction began on the world's largest renewable energy base,

a monumental undertaking given how difficult it was to bring in cranes and

equipment, the county bustled into its busiest time ever. The decade also saw

the rapid development of auxiliary industries like catering, accommodation,

auto repairs, ironware, and construction materials.

This level of activity had only been approached once before – in the 1980s,

when the Longyangxia Hydropower Station was built.

September 26, 2020 was a memorable day for both Huawei and energy specialists

Huanghe. At 17:18, the last segment of the Qinghai Gonghe 2.2 GW PV power

station was connected to the power grid, marking the rollout of a power source

that would support the world's first UHVDC power transmission project to

transmit 100% clean power. Gonghe PV power station isn't just the world's

largest PV power station – it also boasts the shortest completion time of any

new energy power plant, taking just one year from bidding to connecting to the

grid.

The Qingyu UHVDC power transmission line that the plant supports stretches

1,563 km from Hainan in Qinghai Province to Zhumadian in Henan Province and is

capable of lighting up the Central Plains region with 100% clean power.

Both the power station in Gonghe and the province's wind power plants connect

to the power grid, providing capacities of 15.436 million kW in Hainan and

10.12 million kW in Haixi. Each of the renewable energy bases now has a

capacity of 10 million-kW.

Ten years ago, China's inverter market was dominated by central inverters. In

2013, Huawei and Huanghe deployed string inverters in the Golmud PV power

station in Qinghai, marking the first time string inverters were installed in a

large-scale, ground-mounted PV plant. This broke the dominance of central

inverters and spurred new development in the PV industry. In 2014, the two

companies launched the smart PV solution based on string inverters to

digitalize PV power stations. One year later, Huawei established the Smart PV

Joint Innovation Center with Huanghe, which soon developed Smart I-V Curve

Diagnosis technology, revolutionizing O&M and slashing LCOE (Levelized Cost of

Energy).

In 2017, string inverters overtook central inverters to become the mainstream

PV inverters. Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis is widely used worldwide today,

replacing complex and inefficient manual O&M and inspections and accelerating

the arrival of affordable PV. A little spark starts a great fire – Smart PV

began by the Yellow River and now the 609- square-kilometer Gonghe PV power

station is one of the world's largest PV power stations, complemented by the

100 MW Demonstration Power Station.

According to Xie Xiaoping, Chairman of Huanghe, the two companies achieved

outstanding results due to aligned resources and complementary strengths. A

timespan of just ten years saw the development of the world's first 100% clean

energy UHV power transmission line as well as the world's largest renewable

energy base, PV power operator, single PV power station, hydro-solar power

plant, and demonstration base.

Powered by Huawei's digital information technologies, 5G networks, and smart

handheld terminals, Huanghe had built the country's largest centralized new

energy control center. With more than 20 million data measurement points, the

center centrally manages 34 PV power stations, providing services like big data

analysis, remote diagnosis, and real-time maintenance.

Plans are in place for a new PV park spanning 609.6 square kilometers – roughly

the land area of Singapore – and a 2,400-square-kilometer wind farm.

By the end of 2020, the renewable resources in Hainan totaled an installed

capacity of 18.65 million kW, including 9 million kW of PV power, 5.5 million

kW of hydropower, 4.1 million kW of wind power, and 50,000 kW of solar-thermal

power.

Folk songs make a return in Talatan

Located in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, Talatan was once a landscape

of windswept sand, plagued by drought and overgrazing.

Since 2011, PV power has helped gradually restore the degraded vegetation and

revitalize the grassland ecosystem, with solar energy increasing soil moisture

and reducing evaporation from the soil's surface. Local residents herding sheep

under seemingly endless rows of solar panels on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a

living example of how technologies can coexist harmoniously with nature. The

sky is blue, the wilderness is vast, and the wind sings to cows and sheep

through the grass.

In just 10 years, Talatan was restored to the way it once was – its green past

has time-traveled to the present and the sound of folk songs can be heard again.

On our way to Talatan, Huan Xingsheng, the deputy director of production

technology for Huanghe's PV O&M company, believes that "solar grazing" embodies

the nature of this land – and the term is currently being registered as a

trademark.

Fifty-year old Duo Goujie lives in Tiegai Town, where he and his wife raise

over 550 small-tailed Han sheep, which graze in rich fields nearby.

"Before, there was no fertile grass here. It used to grow in clumps, with sand

all over it, just like the kind you see on the roadside. The sheep didn't like

it," says Duo with a smile.

When first planning for the PV project in Talatan, Huanghe sought ways to

deploy PV power stations in a way that would benefit both the natural ecosystem

and the PV industry. To absorb the impact of desert wind and sand on solar PV

panels, Huanghe sowed pasture seeds around the PV park. The grass inside the

park soon grew far higher than the grass outside it.

"The grass grows better because the shelter of the PV panels reduces

evaporation from the soil surface, and the water used to clean the PV panels

increases soil moisture," says Huan Xingsheng.

However, this creates new challenges: Grass that grows too tall stops sunlight

reaching the PV panels and affects power generation. The grass also catches

fire easily when it withers in winter. In 2015, Huanghe migrated 600 sheep into

the park. They kept the grass at a certain height so it power generation

remained unaffected and life was made far easier for the farmers.

Also in 2015, Huanghe began researching the environmental impact of large-scale

PV power stations. It found that their deployment improved soil moisture and

vegetation growth, cutting average wind speeds by 41.2% and daily air

temperatures by 0.5 degrees Celsius, while improving average daily air humidity

by 2.1% and soil moisture by 32% at 20 cm deep.

As a result, Huanghe adjusted the design of the PV supports from 50 cm to 1.2 m

above ground. The increased construction costs were offset by signing grazing

agreements with local farmers, employing local villagers to help construct and

maintain the PV park, and growing cash crops like snow chrysanthemums and Togou

grass in the park. The model of jointly benefiting the ecosystem and local

people by deploying solar technology has in turn boosted the PV industry, local

transportation, construction, and tourism, leading to the development and

prosperity of minority groups in the upper Yellow River.

In 2018 in response to the success in Talatan, the State Key Laboratory on

Ecological Water Conservation in Northwest Arid Regions set up a branch at

Huanghe dedicated to researching the management of areas that, like Qinghai,

are arid or have turned to desert.

Supported by the world's largest renewable energy base, Qinghai's power grid

has achieved several milestones since 2017 for providing uninterrupted green

power, achieving 7, 9, 15, and then 30 consecutive days.

On August 16, 2021, it achieved a record 100 days.

Looking out from a 30-meter-high inspection tower is a blue ocean of PV panels

that contrasts with Qinghai Lake a short distance away. Today, this land is

alive with joy, with more than 5,000 sheep grazing in the park and the sound of

singing farmers floating over the grasslands.

Source: Huawei

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=407860

   Caption: Qingyu UHVDC power transmission line, spanning 1,563 km, lights up the Central

Plains with clean energy from the plateau in northwest China

   Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=407863

   Caption: Sheep running towards the PV park