Preface
"Oolong" is often there, but this time it brought good!
The phrase "unintentionally planted in the willows and willows" is simply appropriate for the body of Tara Beach in Qinghai, because the changes here can be called the "biggest oolong event" in the history of China's infrastructure construction.
What happened when I wanted to build a power plant in the desert, but it was accidentally turned into a pasture?
Power plant or pasture?
It is the Tara Beach where photovoltaic panels are "lined up", and it is also a large pasture where sheep compete to graze.
When it comes to Tara Beach, many people are not very familiar with it, but it is indeed the largest photovoltaic power generation industrial park in China, which has an important strategic position in our country.
It is said to be the largest because it covers an area of about 609 square kilometers, which is amazing, and the area of Tara Beach Industrial Park is basically comparable to the land area of Singapore, you know, Singapore's land area is more than 700 square kilometers.
Baidu Encyclopedia
As of now, more than 7 million photovoltaic solar panels have been built here, and the annual power generation figures of these solar panels are also quite amazing.
How much power does the Tara Beach Industrial Park have a year?
According to industry experts, Tara Beach can generate an average of 32.9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year.
With its strong "power generation capacity", it has also become a rare industrial park in the world, and has won many "first" titles.
Image source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
Specifically, the Tara Beach Photovoltaic Power Generation Industrial Park is the world's largest industrial park with the largest one-time investment, the largest single capacity, and the largest centralized power generation scale in the world so far.
However, if you see the current appearance of the Tara Beach Industrial Park, you may be puzzled.
If you look closely, you will see that it is not like an ordinary power station, just a forest of rows and rows of photovoltaic panels, where you can see green grass, life and flocks of sheep.
This scene in front of you may make you wonder, is this a "power plant" or a "pasture"?
In fact, today's Tara Beach Industrial Park is both a power plant and a pasture.
Of course, no matter what kind of "factory" it is, Tara Beach has indeed undergone earth-shaking changes, and it is hard to imagine what kind of "barren land" it was at the beginning, and how many twists and turns it has gone through to become what it is today......
A desert in the past
Desolate and devoid of grass, these two words may be the most appropriate to describe the original Tara Beach.
Located in the mainland of Qinghai Province, where the average altitude is 2,920 meters, the high-altitude Tara Beach has become a "no man's land" due to its unique geographical environment, just because the environment here is not suitable for human habitation.
The sunshine in the Tara Beach area can reach 8 hours during the day, and the desertification of the land makes it almost difficult for plants to grow here, so the original Tara Beach area has become a vast Gobi Desert that cannot be seen at a glance.
But the entire Tara Beach area has 2,136 square kilometers, and it is a pity that such a large area has been "shelved" in vain.
So, one day, the idea of building a photovoltaic power plant was proposed, and it became a reality with the implementation step by step, but the process of "realizing the idea" was not so easy.
The twists and turns of the factory construction process
After a bumpy road, the photovoltaic power plant was finally successfully landed.
Although the idea of building a photovoltaic power plant in the Tara Beach area has been well received by many, it is not easy to get the project to fruition, as there are many circumstances to consider.
For example, considering the capital investment, personnel arrangement, and accounting of the pros and cons of building a factory, or deducing some troubles that will be encountered in the process of building a factory, etc., therefore, the relevant personnel went to Tara Beach again and again for on-the-spot investigations, and in the "discussion" again and again, the project was able to "come out after a long time".
In 2010, the National Energy Administration finally "decided" on the project, and it was also from this year that the construction of the Tara Beach power plant began to be implemented "on the ground".
I have to say, "the ideal is very plump, the reality is indeed a little skinny", the construction process of the Tara Beach Photovoltaic Industrial Park can be described as bumpy, encountered many problems, the first is the local wind and sand.
You know, Tara Beach is a no-man's land, because the environment here is not suitable for human habitation, so this area is very "original", the sandy land with a sudden wind, can make people unable to find the north in an instant, not to mention our "delicate" photovoltaic solar panels.
Why do I say "delicate" photovoltaic panels?
Because if photovoltaic panels are used in an area with particularly strong wind and sand, in the long run, it will accelerate the damage of the parts on the panels, and bring damage to the entire photovoltaic panel.
In addition, if the wind and sand are often covered on the photovoltaic solar panels, it will also reduce the conversion rate of photovoltaics, which is a problem that must be solved, otherwise the purpose of power generation will not be achieved, and the initial investment will be wasted.
Maybe then someone will say that it is enough to clean it up?
But in fact, it is not easy to clean up, there is a shortage of water in areas with large sandstorms, and it is unrealistic to clean up with water, and if other methods are used to clean up by manpower and machines, the cost is too high.
But the Tara Beach area is notoriously windy and sandy, what can I do?
This is not difficult for China, known as the "infrastructure madman", and the relevant technicians from the mainland later proposed a solution based on the situation on the ground, and it is precisely because of this measure that Tara Beach has become a "miracle place".
What did the people do about it?
An unexpected "double win"
Unintentional moves, create an "oasis"!
After some discussion, the mainland technicians decided to sprinkle a circle of grass seeds near the photovoltaic power plant.
Bags of grass seeds were scattered around the power plant, next to every photovoltaic panel, and the once wild Gobi land became the thriving pasture it is today.
Seeing this, I believe that some careful friends have also found a problem, if it is so easy to grow grass, the Tara Beach area has long been "transformed" by people, why wait until today?
Indeed, the growth of this piece of grass can be said to be an "accident".
As mentioned earlier, the solar panels should not be covered with too much wind and sand, which will lead to their low efficiency, so in order to temporarily solve this problem, the staff had to regularly go to the Yellow River, 36 kilometers away, to extract this precious water and "clean" the solar panels.
In the process of cleaning, precious water flows from the solar panels to the ground, the grass seeds are moistened, and the barren land is able to "suck" water.
In addition, it is also due to the shading effect of the photovoltaic panels, which are tilted to absorb a large area of light, and at the same time "block" the sunlight for the grass seeds.
This "shading" can not only reduce the amount of water evaporation by nearly one-third, but also shield the grass seeds from the wind, so that the volatilization under the strong sunlight and the wind erosion under the action of the wind are "beaten" back by the photovoltaic solar panels, so that the grass seeds can thrive.
The third reason is also because the temperature difference between day and night in the Tara Beach area is very large, so in the morning, some small dew drops will condense on the top of the photovoltaic solar panels, and these dew drops also provide nutrients for the green grass below.
Under the combined effect of various conditions, the engineers found that the grass grew more and more lush, and the problem of wind and sand could be said to be solved to a large extent, but at this time, a new problem came.
The grass grows higher and higher, even blocking the photovoltaic panels, what can I do? Is it manual weeding?
This is another big project, and it is also a large expense, so someone came up with an idea.
Instead of weeding manually, it is better to raise a few sheep and the sheep eat grass, killing two birds with one stone.
Everyone supported this idea and began to raise sheep, and the park also called on local herdsmen to come here to herd sheep, and this raising, there were more and more sheep, and this photovoltaic industrial park became a "pasture" in this way.
People's Daily Overseas Edition, published on July 8, 2022
epilogue
In the end, the photovoltaic industrial park produced a batch of "photovoltaic sheep", and the result was simply happy.
It has to be said that the Tara Beach Photovoltaic Industrial Park, a scene of harmony between man and nature, has been a great success, and it is precisely because of this precedent that the mainland has also begun to build large-scale power plants in many areas.
It can not only develop clean energy, but also improve the originally harsh natural environment, which is really a commendable "great wisdom of China"!
What do you think about this, welcome to express your opinions!
The sources in this article are from:
1. "Baidu Encyclopedia - Gonghe County, Qinghai Province"
2. "Qinghai Tara Beach: From Barren Beach to the World's Largest Photovoltaic Power Generation Park", China News Network, released on November 22, 2023;
3. "Qinghai and Hainan: Promoting Green Development with Photovoltaic Desertification", China Forestry and Grassland Administration-China Green Times, October 30, 2023;
4. "Herdsmen on Tara Beach Distribute "Sheep" Wealth", Qinghai Daily, published on March 7, 2024;
5. "People's Daily Looks at Qinghai|Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture's Green Industry Takes Root in the Gobi Desert", Qinghai News Network, published on July 19, 2023;
6. "Visiting the World's Largest Installed Capacity Photovoltaic Power Generation Park - Qinghai Gobi Desert Rises "Photovoltaic Sea", People's Daily Overseas Edition, released on July 8, 2022;
7. "Qinghai Hainan Green Energy: "Photovoltaic + Ecology" to Promote Economic Development" Guangming Net, released on September 15, 2020, but in order to improve the readability of the article, the details may be polished, please read sensibly, for reference only!