On May 31, 2023, good news came from the depths of the Taklamakan Desert, the largest desert in China. The Xinjiang Qiemo 100000 kilowatt photovoltaic power station, built by Shandong Electric Power Construction First Company, was successfully connected to the grid for power generation.

This project is located in the hinterland of the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang. It is the first large-scale centralized photovoltaic power station project built in the center of China's largest desert and the world's second largest mobile desert, and belongs to the photovoltaic sand control ecological project. The project covers an area of 3916 acres, with an installed capacity of 100000 kilowatts. There are a total of 32 photovoltaic arrays equipped with energy storage devices, and a new 110 kV booster station will be built, which will be connected to the nearby 220 kV substation through a 110 kV line.

Due to the project being located in the center of a mobile desert, in order to ensure the safety of photovoltaic power generation equipment and desert environmental governance, this project will plant over 1.4 million square meters of grass squares, covering an area of 2103 acres, to achieve power generation on the board, sand control and soil improvement under the board, slow down the flow of sand dunes, reduce water evaporation, and facilitate the survival of sand fixing plants, effectively safeguarding the photovoltaic power plant.

After the completion of the project, the first year's power generation will be approximately 213.3396 million kilowatt hours, with an average power generation of approximately 204.0332 million kilowatt hours during the operation period. It will save approximately 60300 tons of standard coal per year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 132100 tons per year, which has good economic, social, and ecological benefits. It will provide useful reference and accumulate valuable experience for China to build photovoltaic clean energy in the largest desert, especially in the center of mobile desert. Editor/Xie Li