Guangdong thrives with photovoltaic power station

Under the large number of photovoltaic panels, rows of dragon fruits are being harvested and many black sheep are seen leisurely grazing.

This is a scene that can recently be seen at Zhilong farm photovoltaic power station in Yangxi county in the western part of Guangdong province.

The photovoltaic panels continuously convert solar energy into electric energy, while dragon fruit trees are planted and sheep are raised under the photovoltaic panels in the farm, according to Nanfang Daily.

Xie Zenghui, director of the farm photovoltaic power station, said the power station is the first large-scale ground centralized photovoltaic power station developed by Guangdong Energy Group.

"Construction of the station adopts a new model of agricultural and optical complementation, which not only effectively helps solve the problem of project site selection caused by long-term land resource shortage, but also forms a three-dimensional model using the land under the photovoltaic panels to grow vegetables and fruits and raise poultry," Xie was quoted as saying by Nanfang Daily.

The power station has, so far, generated electricity of more than 570 million kilowatts per hour since its inauguration in 2016, he said.

And Shuangyu Photovoltaic Power Station, located in Changjiao Reservoir in Yangxi county, also relies on the local rich water resources and good lighting conditions to build a "fish and light complementary" electricity generating project in line with local conditions.

The space of the reservoir can be used comprehensively and stereoscopically, forming an intensive development model of "power generation above water, plus aquaculture in the water", and "one resource, two industries," in this project.

Meanwhile, through the shading effect of photovoltaic panel array, it can also inhibit the propagation of algae on the water surface and reduce the water surface temperature, providing a better growth environment for fish and shrimp farming, which is an effective way to achieve a "win-win" of rural economic development and ecological protection.

Guangdong authorities said the southern Chinese province has achieved rapid progress in photovoltaic power industrial development during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

Guangdong, one of the major production bases in the world, has planned to add about 20 million kilowatts of photovoltaic power generation capacity in five years, ending in 2025, helping play a role to support the province's sustainable economic growth, authorities said.

The photovoltaic power industry still has large space for growth in the years to come, authorities said.